Brand New Eyes
by Silver Flame Alchemist
Summary: She's a new sort of creature, something they've never faced before, and as the boy's continue to try and save the world from things that go bump in the night, they'll discover that although she can crush them with a look, she's actually on their side after all. At least, that's what she keeps telling them. - Mildly AU - Set after S8E9 -
1. Playing God

The room was quiet in the pre-dawn gloom, the silence only broken by the soft, even breathing of the two men asleep in their beds and the faint sounds of distant traffic from the highway. It was an easy silence, unstrained and actually rather comfortably, and both boys slept peacefully in the soft light drifting in from the crack between the curtains.

At least, they were until a phone started blaring an obnoxious ringtone into the gloomy solace of their motel room and both boys awoke with a start, hastily looking at each other before they started searching for the offending device.

"The hell is it?" Dean grumbled; voice still rough from sleep as he rummaged through the pockets on his jacket and jeans.

"Found it!" Sam announced, pulling the phone in question from the pocket of his jacket and flipping it open with a raised eyebrow. "…Garth?"

"Does he _know_ what time it is?" Dean asked, flopping back onto his bed with a faint growl of indignation.

Sam offered him a half-hearted smile before returning his attention to the frantic voice in his ear. "Hang on, Garth, slow down; you've got a _what_ for us?"

"_A job!"_ The Hunter on the other end of the line quickly replied. _"And it's only about an hour or two away from where you are now, so you won't have far to go."_

Sam ran a hand through his hair, deciding to practice his usual habit of simply not asking how Garth knew half the stuff he did (where they currently were, for instance), and instead merely sighed softly. "What sort of job?" He asked after a short pause, ignored both the glare and the groan that his brother threw him from the other bed.

"_Well,"_ Garth began with a poorly concealed chuckle, _"the victim is a scientist who has spent his entire working career trying to disprove evolution, and according to the coroner's report that my buddy sent me, it looks like he was chomped by something big. Like, _Dino_ big."_

Sam froze, eyes going slightly wider as his shoulders slumped. "Oh _no_…"

"_Oh _yes_!"_ Garth corrected. _"So, I thought you boys could handle it, since you have experience with these sorts of situations…"_ He trailed off, sounding hopeful.

Sam thought it over for a moment, frowning into the receiver of his phone. The two of them had only just gotten back on their feet as Hunters, and the younger Winchester wasn't sure if what they really needed was a case like this right now. Then again… "And you're sure it's not just some freak, rouge animal, or anything like that?"

"_Positive. The coroner said_ _himself that the bite marks look right for a Dino, even though he's _sure_ that can't be it."_ Garth's tone intimated that he and Sam clearly knew better_. "So, you gonna take it, or am I gonna have to send someone else in?"_

Sam pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "No, no, we'll take it."

"_Great! I'll email you the info I already have, then. Call me if you need me!" _The line clicked off, and Sam shut the phone with another sigh.

"Whatever job you just volunteered us for," Dean grumbled from under the covers on his bed, "you can wait to tell me till in the morning."

Sam let out a faint snort of laughter and rolled his eyes, falling back against his sheets and closing his eyes once more. Who knew, maybe a little mischief was just what they needed right now.

* * *

"A_ Trickster_, Sammy?" Dean's hands were clenching and unclenching against the steering wheel of the Impala, his annoyance over their current case more than perfectly evident and understandable. "Really?"

"What was I supposed to do, Dean?" He snapped back, less than thrilled himself over what they were about to do. "Let Garth send in someone who doesn't know what they're doing?"

"They'll learn sooner or later, Sam, and in this line of work, sooner is better." Dean muttered; eyes still glued to the road. "And may I remind you that the last time we took on something like this, it turned out not to be a Trickster at all."

Sam flinched imperceptibly at the memory, remembering all too clearly the hotel at the back of beyond, and the unorthodox farewell they'd been given by the honey-eyed man. "Yeah, Dean, I remember." He managed faintly, trying not to think about it anymore than he had to.

"So, Garth manage to figure out where we can find this thing?" The elder asked, finally glancing from the highway and over to his brother, feeling a little pang of guilt over bringing up that particular case.

"Ah, yeah," Sam seemed to shake himself out of his thoughts, "at least, he gave us a place we can start."

"Well that's better than nothing, I suppose…" Dean grumbled softly, relaxing a little in his seat. "So where is it we're starting from, exactly?"

"A little town in Iowa. That's where the first death was, so it makes sense to go ahead and start looking there. These things never just take one, right, so we're bound to run into it sooner or later."

Dean let out a faint sigh. "And you're _sure_ we're dealing with a Trickster?" He asked again.

"Garth seemed pretty sure." Sam replied. "He had a contact up there send him the police's case notes, and all the signs fit a Trickster's M.O."

Dean let out a faint groan. "Awesome."

Sam sent him a side-long look, frowning slightly. "Dean, I know you're not thrilled about this job, and I get it, I do," he paused, exhaling softly, "but can we just… Get through this job and move on to the next?"

Dean let out a faint snort of amusement, nodding. "Right. Let's just survive Trickster-induced insanity and then move on. Great plan, Sammy."

The younger Hunter rolled his eyes. "Better than a few we've thought up over the years."

And even though Dean did nothing more than snort faintly, Sam noticed the way his elder brother's grip on the steering wheel slackened, and his shoulders lost their former stiffness. They'd get through this, he decided. They might be the worse for wear by the end of it, but they would survive. Because if there was one thing the Winchester boys were good at besides hunting, it was surviving… No matter the state they found themselves in afterwards.

* * *

The hotel the boys found themselves pulling up to that night wasn't the sort they were used to.

For starters, it didn't have a superbly cheesy name or rooms to rent by the hour. Then, of course, there was the home-cooking diner that was both attached to the hotel and open 24 hours (with a lit sign in the window that read _Fresh Baked Pie_ that made Dean squeal in such a way that was both entertaining to his brother and embarrassing to himself). And thirdly, the rooms were actually _nice_. Not four-star, chocolates-on-the-pillows nice, but not as bad as most of the places they'd camped out over the years.

And, if Dean was keeping count, the fourth thing that made this place so damn pleasant was the simple fact that the receptionist behind the desk was actually really cute. And not in the ditsy-shop-girl sort of way, but the sensible-working-girl way. She was sketching in a notebook when they walked in, and she instantly smiled at the both of them when the bell over the door chimed, closing her book and moving casually over to the computer.

"What can I get you boys?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, looking them both over closely before seeming to decide upon Dean as the intended recipient of the question. She had in angel wing earrings, which Dean found comical for reasons he would rather keep to himself, and there was a gold and silver tennis bracelet around her right wrist, the little jewels set into the metal glimmering invitingly.

"A room; thanks." He replied, offering her a smile of his own. "If you've got a double free?"

She nodded, tapping something out smoothly on the keyboard before she glanced back at them. "How long will you be staying?"

"A week or so, probably." Sam quickly interrupted before Dean could reply, the taller boy reaching into his jacket and retrieving his current FBI I.D. "We're here about the murder."

"Oh! You mean Danny, right?" She asked, comprehension dawning on her face. "Daniel Morris, the scientist that got killed?"

The boys shared a look before they returned their attention to her. "Yeah, that'd be the one," Dean replied with a faint huff of laughter, "did you know him?"

She frowned slightly. "Not really well… I mean, I saw him at the diner sometimes, and he seemed to be an okay sort of guy, but beyond that…" She trailed off into a shrug.

"Well, if you think of anything," Dean glanced at her nametag and felt himself smile slightly, "_Annie_, you'll know where to find us."

She offered him a slight smile, nodding once before she finished checking them in and handed over their room keys. "Number Seventeen, it'll be to your left once you walk out." She nodded towards the doors they'd walked in as Dean took the keys from her. "Oh! And while I'm thinking about it, you might want to talk to Carl Jenkins."

"Jenkins?" Sam repeated, trying to remember why the name sounded familiar.

"Yeah, he worked with Danny. Well, I say worked, he was trying to help Danny prove some weird thesis, or something? They would come by the diner a lot and discuss it, but I only caught bits and pieces from time to time."

Sam nodded once, giving her a slight smile, before he headed towards the door and held it open for Dean to follow him through. "Don't even think about it." He muttered once they were both safely outside.

"Think about what?" Dean asked, looking up at him, an eyebrow arched.

"Annie."

"Dude, she's a _lady_, not an _it_." Dean teased with a smirk. "Show a little respect!"

Sam glared at him. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Just don't go hitting any dogs and we'll be peachy."

Sam threw him Bitchface #8 (a personal favorite of Dean's, as it implied that Sam was both pissed off and exasperated, which meant Dean was doing his job as big brother properly), and let out a snort. "Not funny."

"A little funny." Dean argued, throwing him a grin as he unlocked the door to their room and led the way inside.

The room's interior lacked the usual questionable theme of the other motels they had stayed at, and instead offered up two beds bedecked in soft grey coverlets and pearly white sheets, the pillows clothed in black. The carpet was a mix of color that was reminiscent of static, in that it was all monochrome, and the wall paper was a soft white with pearly grey patterns swirling across it. The monotony of the blacks and greys was broken up by soft touches of purple on the chairs and the lamp that sat on the small table between the beds, and the towels that hung by the bathroom door were the same eggplant color.

Sam let out a faint _huh_ of surprise and appreciation as he closed the door behind him, because there was something rather nice about not trying to sleep amongst garish colors or cowboy memorabilia. And, if he was being honest, the dark colors were actually quite calming and comfortable, and he liked the simplicity of it. He set his laptop bag down on the table and plopped himself down into a nearby chair, letting his eyes roam around the room some more.

"Dinner after I grab a shower sound about right?" Dean asked, already rummaging through his bag for the smaller one he kept his toothbrush in.

"Yeah, sounds good." Sam replied absently, leaning back in his seat and shutting his eyes. If Dean was planning to unwind a little, then so was he.

* * *

Annie, as it turned out, worked as a waitress at the diner, and Dean couldn't stop himself from smiling at her whenever she walked by or came to check on them. The place wasn't teaming, of course, but there were a fair few visitors in the retro interior.

One in particular had caught Dean's eye, as he was currently working on his third slice of pie and hadn't lifted his head high enough for the elder Hunter to get a good look at him. It wasn't so much that he looked intimidating, in fact the faded denim jacket spoke volumes to the contrary, but Dean was on high alert for suspicious activity, and after an evening spent trawling through information on their dead scientist, anything was enough to set him on edge.

"So, apparently," Sam spoke softly across the table to him, eyes glued to his computer screen, "this Daniel Morris was not the nicest guy on the planet. Had a habit of _"chewing up his research assistants, and then spitting them out again"_." He quoted from the article he was currently going over.

"You mean like the dinosaur did to him?" Dean clarified with raised eyebrows, earning a nod from the younger Hunter.

"Seems he never kept on an assistant for longer than they were necessary, and the only person he's ever worked with for longer than six months is one Carl Jenkins." Sam continued. "Although, I doubt he's our Trickster. I've done some digging, and he looks legit."

"How legit?" Dean asked, ready to chase down even the smallest inconsistency if it meant getting this over with sooner.

"I looked through his life all the way back to middle school, Dean." Sam replied with a tired smile. "The guy checks out."

"Great, so we've got nothing to go on." Dean hid his face in his hands with a sigh, but quickly looked back up again when he heard footsteps approaching.

Annie was smiling at him, her hair looking more blond than brown in the lights that hung from the ceiling above her. "You two doing alright, or do you need something else?"

Sam offered her a slight smile and shook his head, but Dean decided that his current mood needed fixing. "Two things, Annie." He replied with a slight grin.

She nodded, taking out her notepad and clicking out the tip on her pen.

"One; I would very much like a slice of apple pie, as I can smell it from here and it smells delicious." She giggled, writing it down, and Dean absently wondered if she dotted her i's with bubbles, or hearts. "And two; who is that over there?" He nodded to the man he'd been watching earlier, and both Annie and Sam turned to follow his line of sight.

"That? Oh, that's Ryan, Ryan Harper." She looked back down at Dean, smile still intact. "He comes in here most nights, swears up and down that our pie is the best in the state. I'm not sure if it's true, but he seems to think so."

"Is he from around here?" Dean asked, his tone purely conversational, although Sam seemed to understand the sudden shift in topic.

"Ah, I don't think so… No, he moved into town a week or so ago. Yeah, that's right; he arrived just after Danny did. I remember, because Ryan told Danny he should try a slice of the pie, and Danny made some comment about not liking sweets and blew Ryan off." She frowned slightly, clicking her pen tip away again and tucking her notepad back into the pocket on her apron. "Funny, I'd forgotten that till just now…"

"Thanks." Dean offered her a smile, which she instantly returned, and then turned to look at Sam. "Okay, that's got to ring a few warning bells for you."

He shrugged slightly. "Could just be a coincidence, Dean."

"Sammy, we make our _living_ off coincidence." He argued. "The least we can do is check the guy out."

Bitchface #3 surfaced (one that screamed exasperation and disapproval, but varied from #4 in that it meant Sam was about to go along with Dean's most recent, likely crazy, idea), and Sam rolled his eyes before huffing out a "_fine_."

Dean tucked into his pie with gusto when it arrived, and as soon as Ryan made a move for the door, Sam got up and subtly followed him, leaving Dean to do the research back in their room. His punishment for coming up with the most recent, likely crazy, idea.

* * *

Dean was still staring resolutely at the article he was currently skimming through, looking for other weird deaths in the area, when he heard the call come in over the police scanner, and grabbed for his phone even before the report had fully finished coming in.

The phone rang once before his brother picked up and Dean pinched the bridge of his nose. "Please tell me that you somehow magically lost Ryan, and that he's not sitting on his couch watching TV or something."

"_Well I don't know if he's sitting on his couch watching TV or not,"_ Sam replied slowly, _"but he hasn't left the hotel room since he got back."_

"You sure?"

"_Positive, dude, what's going on?"_ Sam was beginning to sound concerned, and Dean couldn't honestly blame him.

"He's not our guy. A call just came in on the scanner, something happened over at the gym. Come back over and we'll check it out, okay?"

Sam sighed faintly into the phone, but Dean could hear his footsteps faintly echoing off the pavement. "Yeah, okay, be right there."

Dean flipped his phone shut and started to change, pulling on his suit. The report he'd overheard had said something about an explosion, which clearly was not a good thing, and he would have been lying if he said that his head wasn't spinning with ideas over what it could have been.

Sam let himself in and started to change as well, leaving Dean to go check the arsenal in the trunk and double-check that their stakes were ready and waiting if they needed them. Once satisfied, he closed the trunk in time to see Sam moving over to the car with a frown. "What's got your panties in a twist?" He asked, slipping over to the driver's side and opening the door.

"It's just… We get a tip from Garth, we drive the maybe two hours it takes to get here, you have your freakin' pie, and then suddenly there's another death?"

Dean shook his head, eyebrows rising. "What's your point?"

"My point is that it seems awfully convenient that the moment we realize we have no other leads, another body turns up." He frowned. "Dean, what if this thing knows we're onto it?"

"And how the hell would it know that?" The elder asked, sliding into the Impala and slamming the door behind him.

"I don't know," Sam muttered, following suit, "but maybe it does."

"Then tell me, oh great thinker, if it knows we're here why did it kill someone else? Wouldn't it have been smarter to lie low and play it safe?"

Sam pinched the bridge of his nose as Dean put the Impala into reverse and pulled away from their parking space. "I guess you're right."

"Of course I'm right." Dean replied with a grin. "But hell, let's go see what all this fuss is about anyway, shall we?"

* * *

The fuss, it turned out, was about a personal trainer at the gym being put inside a hamster ball and made to run around, less the ball in question explode. Apparently, he hadn't been able to keep up the pace, because there were bits of bright purple hamster ball and bright red personal trainer strewn about the large auditorium with a reckless abandon.

A note, detailing what would happen to said trainer if he stopped running for longer than ten seconds, had been found in pristine condition on one of the pieces of hamster ball, and was even now being bagged and taken back to the police lab for "further analysis".

"Oh, dude, that's just gross." Dean muttered, watching the whole fiasco on the playback of the security cameras, trying not to think about it too much, despite having to see it happen over and over again in slightly grainy black and white tones.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Sam agreed, pulling on Bitchface #2 (the one that meant he was disgusted with the situation, but was going to continue down this path because he had to). "Apparently he actually did this to a few of the people who hired him. Not the nicest guy, from what I hear, which fits our M.O." He paused the video and leaned in a little closer. "Hang on a sec, is that…?"

"Is that what?" Dean asked, leaning in closer over his brother's shoulder to get a better look at the screen.

"Here," he slowed the video down so that the action inched past one frame at a time, "does that look familiar to you?" He paused the footage, tapping a finger gently to the screen over the bottom right hand corner.

There, barely visible through the grain of the film, was an arm, and on it a thin tennis bracelet that Dean found all too familiar. "Son of a bitch." He breathed, recognizing the design as one he'd seen earlier that evening.

"I don't think the '_son of a_' part is exactly applicable." Sam pointed out with a frown, staring hard at the spot on the screen. "There's just one problem, Dean, we don't have any real proof."

"We could always just go get some." He offered, straightening up and heading back through the door to the security room, more than ready to go stake the bitch and move on.

After all, that had been the plan, right?

* * *

Annie was wiping down tables in the diner when Dean walked in and nodded to her before taking a set on one of the plush, faux-leather bar stools. Sam had gone back to the room to see what they could dig up on the girl before Dean staked an innocent waitress for no reason.

"Hey, kiddo, what can I get you?" She asked with her usually bright smile.

"Slice of pie and a shot of whiskey, please." The order slipped past his lips before the realization that he was in a _diner_ not a _bar_ clicked, and he let out a nervous chuckle. "Sorry, ah…"

Annie set a shot glass onto the smooth linoleum before him, a faint smirk on her lips at his surprised expression. "Relax; we've got a license for it." She reached under the bar and pulled out a bottle of whiskey, pouring out the shot before she nodded over her shoulder to the tier of pies. "What kind?"

Dean picked cherry, stifling a laugh at the lyrics that rose to mind, and looked Annie over closely as she cut it and slid it onto a plate. She was still wearing the angel wing earrings, which still made Dean grin, and the tennis bracelet was still wrapped around her wrist. She had dirty blond hair that reached just past her ears and soft green eyes. A smattering of freckles covered her nose and cheeks, and Dean found himself wondering where else she might have freckles.

She noticed him staring as she turned around and slid the pie onto the bar before him and quickly raised a hand to her face, a faint blush making her freckles stand out even more. "Do I have something on my face?"

He chuckled, shaking his head and tugging the pie slightly closer. "No, no, I'm sorry. I was just admiring your earrings." He looked back up at her, his gaze now trained to the silver wings that hung from her earlobes. "They don't look like most of the angel wings you see around… Where did you get them?"

"Oh!" She brightened, the hand that had been hovering near her face drifting instead to run along the earring in her left ear. "My father gave them to me."

"Must be some dad if you look like that when you talk about him." Dean found his voice wasn't as loud as it had been a moment earlier.

"Yeah," her own voice had dropped an octave or two as she continued, "we don't really talk anymore, but there used to be a time when we were barely apart." She shrugged, sighing softly. "But I've still got my siblings, so it's not so bad."

Dean nodded, knowing how she felt, and quickly knocked back his whiskey, his phone buzzing in his pocket only a few moments later. He quickly pulled it out and flipped it open; smiling at Annie as she moved off to one of the tables she hadn't finished cleaning yet. "Please tell me you got something, Sammy." He grumbled into the receiver.

"_If by _"something"_ you mean a whole lotta nothing, then yes. I have something."_

Dean sighed deeply, running a hand over his face. "Define _"a whole lotta nothing"_."

"_As in, _nothing to connect her to the case._ She's here, Dean, in black and white all the way back to her birth certificate."_

The elder Hunter glared down at his pie as though it had personally insulted him. "Seriously?"

"_Seriously. She doesn't have so much as a parking ticket, but there's no denying that the girl at the diner is the real deal."_

"Great, so, now what? Call Garth and ask him if he knows what's going on?"

"_Call Cas?"_ Sam suggested, but his tone didn't sound overly helpful.

"Let's leave him out of this until we absolutely have no other choice." Dean decided; the thought of getting Cas involved in a case painfully similar to one they'd already finished did not sit well with him. "See if Garth has anything for us, wouldja?"

"_Why can't you?" _Dean could practically _hear_ Bitchface #4 (the disapproval and exasperation were evident in Sam's tone; and his arguing the subject proved it wasn't #3).

"I have an appointment with some cherry pie." Dean replied with a grin.

"_Dude…"_

"The actual dessert, Sammy, get your mind out of the gutter!" And before Sam could argue, he hung up and slipped the phone back into his pocket.

"Case not going as well as you'd hoped?" Annie asked softly as she moved back behind the bar, watching him dig into the slice of pie with gusto.

"Not even close." He sighed faintly, glancing up when he heard the sound of liquid refilling his empty shot glass.

"You looked like you could use another." She smiled sweetly, snagging a glass of her own from behind the bar and pouring herself one too. "On the house, of course." She grinned at him brightly and toasted him with her glass before she knocked it back without a second thought.

Dean did the same, smiling up at her as he felt the familiar burn of alcohol slide down his throat and into his stomach. "So, Annie, are you from around here?"

She blinked, a bit surprised by the sudden question, but nodded anyway. "I'm originally from Des Moines."

When she didn't offer up any more information, Dean took it as a sign to back off, and did just that. "So do you own the hotel?"

She laughed, a rather pleasant sound, and shook her head. "No, not exactly. It used to belong to my cousin, but when no one claimed it after he died, it went to me. I was his closest living relative, or something like that, but I don't own all of it. The diner's all mine, but the hotel belongs half to me and half to the sheriff. He's a nice guy, so he lets me run it for the most part. The only reason he bought half was so that he could write things off whenever he needed to." She giggled. "He's not as dull as some people think."

Dean smiled faintly, wondering how long she'd been living on her own like this. "Ever get lonely out here all by yourself?" And he wasn't sure why that question had slipped past his lips, but there was nothing for it now.

Her eyes sparked as their gaze met, and she let a faint smirk slide onto her lips. "Depends on whether or not I'm sharing whiskey with a handsome stranger or not."

* * *

Sam jumped when the sound of wings filled the cozy hotel room and Castiel appeared by the door, his expression indeterminable. "Hello Sam."

"Hey Cas," the Hunter greeted with a nod of his head, "did Dean call you?"

"No," Cas moved over to the chair opposite Sam and sat down, "but there is something I think you should know before you become any more entangled in affairs here."

Sam raised his eyebrows sitting forward. "Right, of course, what is it?"

"You need to leave." Cas' tone was not as hard as it usually was when he gave a command like that, and the words were spoken more of a suggestion than anything else. "Preferably soon."

"Leave? Cas, why would we leave, there's a Trickster on the loose." Sam argued back, uncomprehending of the Angel's reasoning.

"Actually, it's worse than that." Cas looked close to smiling, as though he were trying to make the news sound not as bad as it really was. "But that's not the point. You and your brother need to leave, as soon as possible, and not return."

"Cas, we can't just leave. If there's something out there chomping on people, it's our job to put it down."

"That is my point, Sam," Cas leaned forward in his seat, his expression serious, "you can't _"put down"_ this creature. The only thing you can do is run, and hope it doesn't chase you."

Sam shook his head just as Dean opened the door and slid inside, the elder casting the brunette in the trench coat a look. "Cas? What are you doing here?"

"He says we have to leave." Sam answered for him, frowning up at his brother. "But he won't tell me why."

Cas sighed faintly, not even bothering to greet Dean the way he usually did. "I told you why. It's dangerous."

"We usually do just fine with dangerous, Cas," Dean pointed out as he perched on the edge of his bed, "so what makes this creepy crawly so much worse than all the others?"

"Because it is not a creature you have ever faced before." Cas turned his blue gaze onto Dean and frowned faintly, head tipping just slightly to one side. "Dean, please, you cannot escape this thing if it believes you to be a threat. It will do worse things than kill you."

"Well why can't you take care of it, then?" Dean asked; an eyebrow arching.

Cas looked truly embarrassed for perhaps the first time since the den-of-iniquity incident, and Dean was surprised that the Angel's voice came out as a rough grumble when he replied. "It is much stronger than I am."

"So you're saying there's a nasty in town that's so big and bad we should just look the other way?" Dean clarified after a pause, looking at Cas with an annoyed expression. He never ran if he could fight, and if anyone knew that better than Sam, it was Cas.

"In a manner, yes." Cas admitted after a moment's pause. "That is what I'm saying."

"And why the hell would we do that?" Dean asked, his tone indicating that no answer was needed.

And yet Cas gave him one anyway. "Because I am asking you nicely, Dean, please just go before you get yourselves into trouble. I will not be able to protect you if it comes for you, and…" He trailed off, and Sam would have sworn there was a hitch in his voice at that admission. "Please, Dean." He finished faintly, not looking the Hunter in the eye.

"What happens to everyone else if we leave?" Sam asked, noticing the way his brother's hands clenched where they rested on his knees and knowing that he wouldn't be able to turn Cas down without very good cause.

"They will be fine, so long as this thing finishes what it came to do and moves on." Cas spoke softly, his voice once again firm and level. "It isn't here to destroy the town; that is not its purpose."

"And what is its purpose?" Dean asked, finding his voice again. "What is this thing, Cas? You said we've never hunted one before, but can you be sure of that?"

"I am positive." Cas replied promptly. "It has been decades since one walked the earth."

The brothers looked at each other and came to a silent agreement. "Cas, we can't just leave." Sam spoke softly, eyebrows knitting together. "There are innocent people here, and if there's a monster on the loose it's our job to get rid of it."

Cas stood, a scowl making his mouth curve down in an angry slash. "Very well. But if this thing catches you, you will be made to pay for interfering." He seemed about to vanish when he paused and looked at Dean. "That girl that you were flirting with at the diner, the blond."

Dean noticed Sam send him Bitchface #5 (one that basically said _"you were doing _what, _now?"_), and nodded once to Cas. "Annie, yeah, what about her?"

"She isn't a human." Cas said matter-of-factly. "At least, not in the proper sense of the term." Tipping his head off to one side when Dean opened his mouth to protest, he continued before the elder Hunter had the chance. "Seal her in Holy Oil, and you'll see what I mean."

And with a flutter of wings, the Angel was gone, and the two brothers were left to figure things out for themselves.

* * *

Annie was just leaving the diner, her friend Carol taking over for her so she could get some sleep, when she turned around to see the two boys from before not standing far from her. She smiled and moved closer to them, looking about in an attempt to understand why they were skulking over by the side of the building. "Everything alright you two? Do you need something?"

Dean smiled at her sweetly, shaking his head. "We just wanted to talk to you for a minute, if that's okay?"

She nodded, moving closer, and stopped only a few paces from them. "Sure thing, what do you need to know?"

"Honestly?" Dean pulled his lighter from his pocket and flicked it on. "We need to know if you can get out of this."

The Holy Oil lit with a flare, and the bright, dancing light from it was reflected in Annie's green eyes. "Oh, c'mon, really?" She asked with a huff, her whole demeanor changing as she looked between the two of them. "Boys, we've been through this before, I think twice is probably overkill."

"Before?" Sam asked, and earned himself a grin from the girl now wreathed in fire.

"Three guesses who, Samikins," Annie spoke with a smirk, "and it's not Sneezy or Douchey." She finished with a wink.

Sam stared at her, the phrase ringing bells in his head so loudly that he nearly missed Dean saying his name. Sam tilted his head to one side, staring hard at the girl in front of him. "…_Gabriel_?"

"Ding, ding, ding!" She replied, snapping her fingers and pointing at him. "Give the moose a cookie!"

Dean snapped his head around to stare at the blond, eyes going wide. "Gabriel? Archangel-turned-Trickster, _should-be-dead_ Gabriel?" He questioned, trying to ignore the way his voice rose with indignation.

"The one and only." She waggled her eyebrows at him, and Dean had no doubt over exactly who was currently inhabiting the girl's body. "So are you going to let me out of here, or is this one of those times where you leave me to get soaking wet without a second thought?" She raised her eyebrows questioningly, folding her arms across her chest.

"Wait, so, what? You come back and decide to go on a rampage?" Sam asked; eyebrows high on his forehead as he stared incredulously at the blond. "You don't even think to tell us you're back, and instead decide to turn Trickster again and kill a couple people _because_ _you can_?"

"Oh, no," she breathed, eyes narrowing, "don't you _dare_ presume to know what happened to me, what I had to go through." Her back straightened, and Dean could see the Archangel in her bristle. "I didn't come back here to throw a tantrum and kill a few dicks, although _yes_, that is what I've been doing for the past week. But the reason I came back is because I was _brought_ back, and the reason I didn't tell you was because I thought it might be better to come back with a big flourish in my proper vessel; to see the looks on your faces when I flounced in through the door and made a _proper_ comeback."

"Speaking of, where is that little midget?" Dean asked, deciding that he should take the information one bit at a time. "Why are you running around in the Waitress of the Month?"

"Because someone else is borrowing _"that little midget"_." Gabriel snapped back.

"Wait, who?" Sam asked, remembering what Cas had said about the creature that would do worse than kill them.

Gabriel looked over at him, head tipping to one side. "My big sis, okay? She's the one who hauled me back here and stuck me back together."

"Your _big_ sis?" Dean repeated.

"As in older than me, yeah," Gabriel snapped back, "and if you think me and my bros are bad, you just _wait_ till you meet her."

Dean opened his mouth, ready to snap back with a reply of his own, but a voice he recognized cut him off, the single word ringing out through the dark parking lot and making both boys freeze. "Gabriel."

Annie's face lit up. "Heya, Sis! Sorry I missed our appointment, but these two knuckleheads," she pointed at the two boys, "jumped me before I could make a break for it."

"It is not important." The old Gabriel, the one that both boys recognized with the wavy, dirty blond hair and the amber eyes, was moving closer to them, a hand outstretched towards the circle of Holy Oil. "I'm here now, aren't I?" With a casual motion, the flames were extinguished, and the two siblings came to stand beside one another. He peered down at the circle that had once flamed brightly, and arched an eyebrow at the pair of Hunters. "Really boys? This was your plan? Sloppy."

"Sloppy tends to work for us, thanks." Dean replied with a false smile, trying to suppress the chills that were working their way down his spine from seeing those eyes and hearing that voice after all this time. "Now do you mind telling us who you are?"

Amber eyes flicked thoughtfully between the both of them before they settled on Sam, gaze almost found. "There is a hierarchy in heaven, as I'm sure you both know by now. There are the Angels, like dear darling Castiel and that brat Balthazar. Then there are the Archangels, Michael," he tipped his head slightly to indicate the girl beside him, "Gabriel, and the rest of the big boys." The signature smirk was suddenly in place, eyes flashing brightly. "And then there's me."

Dean froze, his usual expression replaced with one Sam couldn't quite identify. "What do you mean, _"then there's you"_?" He asked; voice soft. "What makes you so damn special that you can just come down here and start playing God?"

"Well someone had to, didn't they?" He asked; an eyebrow flicking upwards, as that amber gaze switched from one brother to the other. "I am a Seraphim. A guardian to the throne of God."

Sam stared, mouth falling open slightly as his eyebrows rose up his forehead. Dean seemed equally speechless, and the girl just behind the Archangel's old vessel tugged lightly on his brown jacket sleeve, a pout on her face. "Hey, Sis, can I have my body back now?"

The Seraphim seemed to realize that Gabriel had been left inside the girl, and quickly turned to her brother, smiling. "Apologies, of course you can have him back now." She replied, fingers of her right hand brushing up along Annie's jawbone and earning herself a smirk from the Archangel.

What happened next went instantly onto Sam's top-10 _Strangest Moments_ list, and considering some of the stuff he'd seen in his life, it was not a list to be sniffed at.

Gabriel, the same Gabriel who'd been cut down by his own brother and said goodbye to them via porno DVD, pulled the other blond into a kiss. And sure, alright, it started off friendly enough, but then he proceeded to twirl her into a dramatic tango-esque dip and grin like a naughty schoolboy when he pulled away for air (something Sam was fairly certain he _didn't_ need, despite his sudden panting), and a faint glow was evident on their skin.

"Oh, honey," the Archangel breathed, now back in his proper body, "you haven't lost your touch!"

She grinned up at him from her continued suspension in his arms. "Could say the same for you too, kiddo. Can't remember the last time I had such fun in a transference of Grace."

He hoisted her upright, twirling her as he did, and stood looking at the two stunned Hunters with a smug smile on his lips, an arm around her shoulders. "Admit it," he said after only a moment of looking them both over, "you missed me."

Sam recovered first, finding his voice before Dean did. "Gabriel…?"

"Yeah, Samsquatch?" He asked, eyebrows rising up his forehead.

"What's your sister's name?" And suddenly, Cas' warning about creatures that he couldn't protect them from made infinitely more sense. If Gabriel had the juice to create entire realities out of thin air, then Sam couldn't even imagine what his elder sister might be capable of.

"It's too long for you to pronounce, I'm afraid," came the soft reply, "but you can call me Ariel. It's a close enough approximation." She smiled sweetly, and Sam wasn't sure how to take that expression now that he knew the mind behind it.

"Getting chilly, dontcha think?" Gabriel suddenly piped up. "Let's take this gig inside, shall we?" And he snapped, dragging them all along with him back to their room. He plopped onto a sofa that hadn't been there before, dragging Ariel down onto it with him, his arm still about her shoulders.

"So you're the Winchesters?" Ariel asked, looking them over closely. "Fascinating."

"Mm, you should see them in action, sweetheart." Gabriel commented softly, snapping a lollipop into existence and popping it into his mouth.

She tipped her head off to one side, eyes narrowing at them. "So you're wondering what happened, correct? How Gabriel came back, and all that jazz?"

"For starters, yeah." Sam managed to get out, perching on the edge of his bed and taking a deep breath. "I mean, if you don't mind…?"

She laughed. "You keep acting as though I'm going to smite you on the spot, Sam." She tilted her head to one side, considering him. "I'm a guardian, boys; I'm not here to hurt anyone, especially not you." She grinned. "So stop looking like it's two seconds till kingdom come."

"Not here to hurt anyone?" Dean finally managed to find his voice. "People are dying, Ariel, are you saying that you had nothing to do with it?"

"Technically, yes." She replied smoothly. "I won't deny that."

"So, what, you just decided to let your little brother run around as a Trickster for the fun of it?" He was actually glaring at her now, something Sam found to be a bad idea, despite the promise she'd just made. "What gives either of you the right to deal out justice as you see fit?"

"These weren't random attacks, Dean," she replied coolly, "Death and I had a deal."

Dean held up his hands, backing up enough to sit on the edge of his bed. "Of course. Because celestial beings making deals with Horsemen makes _perfect_ sense."

"Well if you knew the whole story, sourpuss, then it might." Gabriel snapped back with a frown, clearly defensive of his sister even though it was obvious she could take care of herself. "Seraphim have got some serious juice, there's no denying that, but it takes a special sort of someone to haul an angel back down to earth."

"And Death is that someone?" Sam asked, eyebrows rising again.

"I don't know why you two are getting so high and mighty about all this," Gabe groused, ignoring Sam's question, "Dean _sold his soul_ to haul your ass back, and you're picking on my big sis for agreeing to a little role-playing with big daddy Death?" He snorted. "Yeah boys, _real_ mature."

Sam snorted softly, a sound that was almost a laugh, and looked from the two celestial beings to his brother and then back again. "So, what, we throw a _welcome back_ party and pretend everything's okay?"

"No, Dean grumbled, "because everything is not okay." He fixed Ariel with a look. "What do you want?"

"I wanted my brother back." She replied simply, giving him a faint smile. "And now that I have him, there's not much else I need." She tipped her head off to one side, raising a hand. "Be sure to call me if you need me, boys. I'll never be far away." And with a snap and the sound of rustling wings, she vanished.

Dean flopped backwards with a sigh, wiping a hand down his face as he let his eyes slipped closed. "_Awesome_."

* * *

Dean was putting their things back into the trunk of the Impala, going over the arsenal and assuring himself that it was all there where he'd left it. He was just checking the salt rounds in his shotgun when the sound of wings reached him, and he was assaulted by a pair of arms wrapping around him and pulling him into a stiff hug. "Whoa, Cas, personal space!"

The Angel pulled away hurriedly, nodding. "I apologize, but I am relieved to see you are safe." He looked Dean over, as though to be sure of this fact, and then took a hurried step back. "Is Sam also alright?"

"He's fine, Cas." Dean assured him. "But why didn't you just tell us it was your big sis that was running around?"

Cas looked flustered, as though unsure of how to answer, and finally managed a shrug. "I was unsure of how to say it. The Seraphim are not often on earth, and when they are it is usually for some more serious purpose."

Dean sighed, closing the trunk and looking Cas over. "It's okay. We can't all be proud of our family."

Cas' head snapped back up, blue eyes bright with anger. "I am _very_ proud of my sister, Dean. Do not think for a moment that I am ashamed to call her family." He paused, letting that sink in. "I was merely unsure of how to properly explain the situation."

Dean held up his hands in surrender, leaning back against his car. "Alright, alright. But next time can you just tell us what we're dealing with instead of giving us vague hints here and there?"

Cas gave him a short nod, eyes losing their anger. "Of course, Dean." He agreed softly. "I apologize for not doing so in the first place."

Dean shrugged. "Don't worry about it, just don't do it again."

Cas looked up when Sam left the room, moving across the lot to them. "Where are you headed now?" He asked, tipping his head to one side.

"Garth called and said there's a case for us a few states over." Dean moved over to the driver's side door and pulled it open. "We'll call if we need you, though."

Cas paused for a moment before he moved over to Dean's side and look at him seriously. "Does that offer go both ways, Dean?"

For a moment, the Hunter wasn't sure what to say, but then he grinned and nodded. "Of course, Cas. You know that."

A smile spilled onto the Angel's face, and as suddenly as he'd come, he vanished again.

"What was that all about?" Sam asked.

"Nothing," Dean replied automatically, still looking at the space Cas had just vacated, "just making a promise I should have made sooner." He slid into the Impala, slammed the door behind him, and revved up her engine, smiling as it began to purr.

He had a feeling that maybe this time; everything would work out just fine.

* * *

_Oh my word, this turned out waaaay longer than I had originally intended. I love it, though, so I think that makes it all okay. X)_

_Since I am a firm believer in bringing Gabriel back (I personally think they never should have gotten rid of him in the first place), I figured I'd offer up an explanation for how it could happen. And yeah, a big sister swooping in to save the day isn't the best, most original idea, but who cares?  
_

_Hopefully now you'll understand the reason for the setting in my AU stories, meaning the diner of course, but if not, oh well. XD  
_

_There will be more chapters later, once I've finished typing them up, so keep an eye out.  
_

_Reviews are lovely and smiled upon by humans and angels alike, and you will make me wonderfully happy if you drop a line about what you did or did not like about this story. Even if all you want to tell me is you think it's rubbish, I'll be pleased to know someone actually read through this whole thing. XD  
_

* * *

Supernatural and all related characters_ belong to: _Eric Kripke

_The album "_Brand New Eyes" _and the song _"Playing God" _belong to__: _Paramore

Ariel _belongs to: _Silver Flame Alchemist (_aka_ Me)


	2. Pressure

_Several thousand words shorter than the last one, and I don't mind in the least. XD_

* * *

The door to the hotel room slammed, and Sam turned to look at his brother as the elder Hunter leaned against the door with a frown. "That bad, huh?" He asked with a faint snort.

"That bad." Dean confirmed with a shudder. "Find anything out about our target?" He kicked off his shoes and shrugged himself out of his jacket, throwing it onto the end of his bed and plopping down onto the dingy green coverlet.

"Absolutely nothing." Sam replied without missing a beat. They'd been hunting a Demon that had a very specific M.O., and it was really a pain. Young girls were in abundance in any case, but when you added together the common denominator of average weight and height along with blond hair and hazel eyes, they got a lot less easy to find. "But I did think of something…" He added as an afterthought, gaze shifting up onto his brother before he returned his eyes to his laptop.

"If you suggest we call Gabriel down for a chat again, I will punch you." Dean threatened, glaring at his brother.

"No, no, not him…" Sam managed with a chuckle. The last time they'd asked the Archangel for help on a case, he'd appeared in the middle of their hotel room in red silk boxers and a wife-beater with whipped cream perched at the tip of one finger and a smirk on his lips. Dean hadn't forgiven Sam for praying, or Gabriel for answering, even though it had been about a month since the incident. "I was thinking Ariel."

"Oh you've gotta be joking." Dean breathed, giving Sam a look. "Dude, you remember what she did last time!"

"Yes, I remember!" Sam argued back. "But you heard her, Dean, she's a guardian! She's here to help people, to help _us_, and honestly she's the best option we've got." He glared across the room at him and waited for a reasonable reply that he doubted would arrive.

Dean sighed and threw up his hands, dipping his head. "Fine! Fine. You gonna do it or should I?"

"Dude, I did it last time." He pointed out, remembering vividly the shade of red Dean had turned when Gabriel had appeared in their room. "Your turn to take an Angel for the team."

The elder Hunter shot him a look, but closed his eyes anyway, letting out a huff of air. "Ariel, I'm not sure if this works with you the way it does with your brothers, but…" He never made it further than that, because a faint fluttering of wings interrupted him, and he snapped his eyes open to see Ariel standing only a few feet in front of him.

"Hello Dean." She greeted pleasantly, nodding to him before she turned to look at Sam and smiled at him as well. "To answer your question, Dean," she continued as she turned back to the elder brother, "it works exactly the same as it does with my brothers."

"Except you showed up a hell of a lot faster than they usually do." He pointed out faintly, looking her over. "Why is that, exactly?"

"I wasn't busy. They usually are." She folded her arms over her chest and relaxed her posture, getting comfortable as she continued to stand in the same spot she'd appeared. "Besides, first impressions and all that." She grinned.

Sam managed a faint grin of his own, enjoying her more upbeat personality. It was a nice change from Cas' usual awkward demeanor and Gabriel's over-exuberance. A nice middle somewhere between the two, he decided.

"So," she tilted her head slightly to one side in a manner that mimicked Cas, "what do you boys need from me?"

"We're hunting a Demon." Dean replied quickly. "We were hoping you could help us find it."

She raised an eyebrow at him, her posture stiffening up again. "I suppose I could try… Do you have something that belonged to it? Something that it touched, maybe?"

Sam and Dean exchanged looks, and the younger Winchester found his voice first. "Ah, yeah…" He moved over to the duffle bag that was perched on the bed not occupied by Dean, and rummaged through it for a second before he produced a cloth-bound book. He unwrapped it carefully, being sure not to touch the cover, and offered it to the Seraphim. "This belongs to it, we think… Will it work?"

She held a hand out over it, her skin hovering an inch or so over the cover, and frowned slightly. "It might." She took it gently from him and frowned. "What's he up to, this Demon of yours?" She asked, eyes flicking up and looking at Sam.

"What are Demons usually up to?" Dean asked. "Killing people."

She gave him a look, but moved from her original spot over to one of the chairs and sat down carefully, setting the book on the table. "So you've got a runner on a rampage and you need me to find it?"

Sam spoke up before Dean had the chance, not ready to let his big brother go off on a tangent and piss off the newest creature they'd come across that could smite them where they stood. "If you don't mind." He shrugged slightly, a frown tugging at the corners of his mouth. "It's just; we want to stop him before he hurts anyone else."

Ariel's smile was soft as she directed it Sam's way and she nodded slightly. "I understand. I'm always happy to help you boys in any way I can." Sam managed a smile, and nodded, and Ariel looked back at the book. "Sam, would you be so kind as to get me some salt, please? I'll need it for the spell." Sam dutifully stood and moved towards the hotel door, and as soon as it had closed behind him, Ariel fixed Dean with a look. "Could you get that judgmental stick out of your ass, please? The last thing I need is a Hunter who's mad at me."

Dean stared at her, confused by the phrase slipping from her lips. Admittedly, she seemed better adjusted to the human world than Cas, but he hadn't been expecting that sort of language from her. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me." She replied shortly. "I get it, you don't like me because I did something you disapprove of, but seriously, the resentment gig is getting old."

He swallowed hard, unsure of how to respond to that, and finally managed a faint snort. "You take more after Gabriel than I first thought."

She grinned, and the look was so familiar and yet so foreign on her face, that it took Dean a moment to get used to the sight of her lips curling in that way. "Oh, Dean, he takes after me."

The Hunter would have replied, although he was unsure of how to do so, but Sam came back in just then and handed over the salt to Ariel, who took it with a much more subdued smile. "Do you need anything else?"

She looked down at the book and frowned slightly. "Mm, yes." She snapped her fingers and a few other ingredients appeared on the table near her, and she quickly handed Sam's laptop over to him gingerly before she picked up the stick of what Dean assumed was charcoal and began sketching across the top of the table. "Sorry about the mess," she apologized as she continued to draw, "but I promise I'll clear it away once I'm finished." When the rune was finished, she started laying out lines in salt, encasing the rune in a circle of the stuff once the other lines had been finished. "Did the Demon touch either of you?" She asked suddenly, crushing a few of the ingredients and then adding them into a bowl that Sam could have sworn hadn't been there a moment before.

"Ah, yeah," the younger Hunter managed faintly, "he punched me."

Ariel nodded distractedly, pouring holy water into the bowl before holding a hand out to Sam, a knife held ready in the other. "I just need a drop or two." She said as way of explanation.

Sam shrugged, used to bleeding for the greater good, and held out his hand. Instead of the long cut to his palm that he was used to, Ariel gently pricked his thumb, letting two vibrantly crimson drops land on the bowl before she released his hand with a faint smile.

She started chanting, then, the Enochian rolling off her tongue more gracefully than it did when Cas spoke it, and the liquid and herbs in the bowl began to swirl counter-clockwise. She opened the journal, slowly, and placed it open-faced into the bowl. The text glowed brightly for a moment before the whole book caught fire, and Ariel broke off mid-chant, blinking in surprise.

"Is that supposed to happen?" Dean asked with raised eyebrows, looking between the bowl and the girl on the other side of it.

"You boys just never can catch a break can you?" She asked faintly, frowning at the remains of her spell. "No, Dean, it's not supposed to happen, but that's not the point."

"Then what is the point?" Sam asked before Dean could snap back.

"I can't find him, because he's not here." She replied. "As in, not on earth."

"As in _dead_?" Dean questioned, clearly annoyed.

"I would assume so, yes." Ariel nodded. "But I'll have to do more digging." She snapped her fingers, the remains of the spell vanishing from the table. "Be back in a moment, boys." She smiled and then vanished with a rustling of wings.

"Great." Dean grumbled, running a hand over his face. "Well that's just awesome! Call in back-up and have nothing to show for it. _Perfect_."

Sam gave his brother a disapproving look. "What do you mean "_nothing_"? We know it's dead, that's something."

"It's not much, Sammy." He argued back. "And we don't know how it happened, and personally, I prefer to gank the nasty's myself than assume someone else did it properly."

Sam snorted faintly, rolling his eyes, and started looking through his bag for a Band-Aid. "Well I trust her, Dean. I still don't know why you don't."

"Personal preference." Dean muttered, and Sam bit back a comment about a certain southern bloodsucker, instead merely shrugging.

"Suit yourself."

* * *

The warehouse that Ariel found herself in was your usual, grungy, derelict sort of place, with poor lighting and metal siding that would rattle like weak lungs in the wind. Symbols she recognized were painted in red over the dingy windows, and the chains that hung from the rafters across the ceiling swayed lazily in the drafts that breathed in through the cracks in the roof and broken windows.

She gazed about for a moment further before she heard footsteps approaching across the damp concrete, and turned to look in that direction.

"About time you showed up." A familiar, lilting accent drifted through the cool air in the warehouse, and Crowley looked less than thrilled to see the girl standing before him. "Where have you been hiding all this time?"

"Oh, here and there." Ariel replied pleasantly, smiling at the Demon. "How have you been, gramps?"

Crowley's whole frame stiffened as he stared at her. "Now, now, Ariel, where are your manners? I thought we agreed you'd stop calling me that."

She pouted, her bottom lips jutting out comically. "But this is your little granddaughter I'm running around in. Shouldn't I be allowed to call you that?"

"Annie MacLeod may very well be the meat suit you decided to pull on, but that does not give you the right to refer to me in such a familiar matter!" Crowley snapped, his voice rising with his temper. "Now if you don't mind I'd like to get this bit of business done with so that I can get back to more important things."

Ariel held up her hands in surrender, nodding. "All on you, Crowley. I assume you got my message."

"I did," he replied, his voice returning to normal, "now do please tell me what a lady like you wants with a miserable little Demon like that?"

"I'm doing a favor for a friend," she replied simply, "and I dislike loose ends, as I'm sure you know." She smiled brightly. "So tell me, oh King, what did you do with him?"

"I threw him back into the dark, deep chasm from whence he came." Crowley raised his eyebrows. "Good enough, or do you want more specific details? I could try drawing you a diagram, if you insisted, but that might take more time than either of us have."

Ariel's eyes narrowed slightly. "Why?"

"Because I needed those friends of yours to call you in for help, I needed to lure you out into the light." He grinned sharply. "You're even better at hiding than that little brother of yours."

Ariel raised an eyebrow at him, a frown appearing on her lips. "And why would you want that? I thought we had a deal, Crowley."

"Oh, we do," he agreed, starting to move in closer to her, "I scratch your wings, you scratch mine… You keep those pesky boys at bay, and I keep my pups on a leash." He chuckled. "But given that I am a rather slippery bastard, I'm surprised you came alone." He snapped his fingers, and baying hounds could suddenly be heard in the background. "I did not, however, promise to keep all the other hounds off your tail."

Ariel took several steps backwards, her heart suddenly hammering in her chest. "Crowley…"

"Look, I don't like this any better than you do, buttercup," he admitted with a shrug, "but when the courtiers start to question their king, measures have to be taken."

A patch of siding was ripped open, and Ariel's head snapped around to stare at the Hell Hound that was standing just inside the hole it had recently made. "Crowley, please."

He was suddenly next to her, a hand lightly on her shoulder, and she felt a shudder run through her as he whispered into her ear. "They won't kill you, you have my word, but if I don't rough you up just a little, then I'll have a full-blown riot on my hands." He snapped his fingers as he stepped back, and Ariel saw a ring of flames burst into life just outside the warehouse. Even from this far away, she knew it was Holy Oil burning outside. "Do try not to bleed too much," Crowley added as he started to walk away, the other Hell Hounds tearing the building slowly apart in their frantic attempts to get in, "I hear Seraphim blood is a pain to clean up!"

* * *

Sam awoke to the sound of fluttering wings, and he sat up with a start when a soft whimper sounded from the end of his bed. "Ariel…?" He called out softly, aware that Dean would likely shoot them both for waking him up.

"Sam…" A hand suddenly clutched at his arm and the younger Hunter jumped in surprise. "Sam, I need your help."

He fumbled for a moment in the dark, trying to find her as she perched on the edge of his bed. "Here, let me turn the light-"

"No!" She cut him off with a harsh whisper. "No, Sam, leave the light off."

"Ariel, I can't help you if I can't see you." He argued gently, reached over to click the lamp on the bedside table on. "It'll be fine; Dean won't care if you need some…" Sam stopped short as he turned around to see her; eyes taking in the state the Seraphim was in. There were cuts on her skin. Actual, honest-to-God cuts, with blood oozing out of them sluggishly and bruises beginning to form on her pale skin. He could see a bright, white-hot glow of Grace leaking out of some of the deeper cuts, and he felt his heart stutter in his chest. "What the hell, Ariel?"

"I told you not to turn the light on." She muttered softly, not looking him in the eyes. "Let your brother sleep, Sam, I'd rather not wake him."

"Who cares about him?" He asked, moving forward to brush some of her hair away from a long gash near her temple. "What happened to you?"

"I ran into a bit of trouble." She mumbled, still avoiding his gaze, and wincing whenever he came too close to one of her injuries. "I'll be fine, but I need your help."

"Of course," his voice was barely over a whisper as he leaned in a little closer, "what do you need?"

"I need to touch your soul."

And there's that thudding in Sam's head that hasn't left since he got his soul first shoved back in, that thudding of his heart that has nothing to do with the fact that a _Seraphim_ is sitting on his bed, _injured_, and needs his help. That sudden panic that he'll lose the one little slip of humanity that he has left, and everything will go back to the crazy, bloodied mess it had been back then. Back before…

"Sam?" Ariel's voice is a gently breeze through his thoughts, her hand landing lightly on his arm. "Is that okay?" And with her sudden shift in proximity, he can see the black blood crusted under her fingernails, and part of him is dying to know how it got there, and the rest of him is screaming at him to run like hell and not look back.

"Yeah," he manages faintly, "but that might wake up Dean." He knows how much it'll hurt, remembers in snatches the blinding pain of it from before, knows he'll scream bloody murder the moment her hand slips up under his ribcage.

She smiles at him, and it's a soft, reassuring smile that says everything he wants to hear, all the things he needs to know that she knows, all the gentle reassurances that he never got before. "I can take us somewhere. I think I can still fly."

And it's that word, _think_, that really catches Sam off guard; that makes him realize she might need this more than she's letting on. "I can drive." He puts in gently, hoping she'll understand the offer and not be offended.

"No, no," she leans in closer and lifts the hand that had been on his arm, "this'll be faster." She gently presses her first two fingers to his forehead, and when he reopens his eyes, they're in a different room of the same motel. "We're just next door." She explains when he looks around the room. "In case Dean freaks out."

Sam wonders if maybe she picked here because she could only make it so far, but he pushes the thought away and decides to focus on not freaking out over what's about to happen. "Alright, so…?"

"You should get comfortable." She motions to the bed next to them, already pulling the tennis bracelet on her wrist off and waiting for Sam to move.

He lies back on the bed and tries to relax, plucking lightly at the thin fabric of his shirt, an eyebrow arching. "Do you need me to…?"

She quickly shakes her head, smiling. "No, no, it'll be fine." She perches on the edge of the bed next to him and gives him that gentle, reassuring smile that Cas could never seem to master and that clashed so very much with Gabriel's entire personality. "Just breathe, Sam, and count backwards from ten."

He doesn't think to question it, instead closing his eyes and steadying his breathing, letting himself relax as he does as instructed. "Ten." He breathes out softly, just to give her a point of reference in case she needs it, and then continues on silently in his head.

He's hit three when it happens, and because he isn't expecting it until at least two, more likely one, he doesn't tense up right away, doesn't feel the burn under his skin and in his veins until his eyes fly open and a strangled scream of agony is ripped from his throat. Ariel's hazy through all the pain that's clouding his vision, but he can see the look on her face, the apologetic expression in her eyes, and he can feel her free hand pushing him gently back onto the bed, her voice whispering reassurances that he can't make out but appreciates all the same.

And then her eyes start to glow, and Sam squeezes his shut to avoid having them burn right out of his skull, and he can feel her fingers touching his soul and it's like having his whole being on fire, each cell wreathed in flame and singing with pain.

He's sure he's screaming, but he can't hear for the blood pounding through his ears.

What happens next doesn't surprise Sam, but he manages to keep in another pained shriek as the door slams inward and Dean rushes in, gun at the ready and eyes widening as the seconds tick past and what's happening actually registers with him. To his credit, Dean doesn't rush in and try to tug Ariel away from his brother, even though every fiber of his being is screaming at him to, and instead merely closes the door, locks it, and lets his gun hand relax by his side as Ariel slowly pulls away from Sam, and the blazing red lines begin to fade from his skin.

"What the _hell_ were you two thinking?" He demands the instant they're both sitting up properly, each slightly out of breath, and looking at him guiltily.

"Dean…" Ariel begins, but the elder Hunter shoots her a look so livid that it stops her before she can say more, and instead she dips her head and hides her eyes from him.

"She was hurt." Sam tells him quickly, before that scathing look turns into anything more violent and Dean breaks his hand across her face. Female or no, _celestial being _or no, he'll deck her for hurting his baby brother, and everyone in the room knows it. "She needed a boost."

"A boost?" Dean's voice is just under a yell, eyes still hard as he shifts his gaze from her to his brother. "Sammy, she could have _killed _you!"

"But she didn't!" He snapped back, wincing softly as his ribs throbbed painfully from the shout. "I agreed, Dean, I _let her_."

And that does it, because now Dean isn't angry, he's downright furious, but it doesn't take the normal form of fury, it's the pinning back of his ears and the way his eyes go just a touch glassy, and his mouth hangs slack that tells Sam his big brother isn't just mad, he's _scared_. Scared for his little brother because maybe's he's finally lost his marbles again, and this is just the beginning.

"She was bleeding." Sam hopes that fact will help sober up his brother as much as it did him the first time. "_She_ was _bleeding_, Dean." He repeats, putting the proper emphasis into the sentence. "So get off that high horse of yours and stop throwing a bitch-fit." Dean's jaw tightens, and Sam takes that as all the consent he's going to get before Ariel snaps, and they're back in their first room, back on their beds.

"I am so sorry, Dean." Ariel says softly, finally looking up at him, and he can see there's still a cut on her lip, and a bruise on her jaw. "I should have woken you, and I'm sorry I didn't." There was a world of unspoken connotations in that simple sentence, things Dean knew without having to be told outright, and he finally let out a huff of a sigh and put down his gun.

"Yeah, you should have." He grumbles instead, running a hand down his face and glaring across the dim room at her. "So what the hell happened to you?"

"Hell Hounds."

They both stare at her as though she'd just professed her love for Dean with fluttering eyelashes and actual hearts floating through the air around her. "Come again?" The elder Hunter says, eyebrows doing their best attempt to defy gravity as they climb higher up his forehead.

"Hell Hounds." She repeated softly. "They… Well, they took a nice big bite out of me." She looks at her hands, and Dean realizes that one of her fingers is obviously broken, and another two look horribly bruised. "Don't worry about it."

Sam's snort borders on insulted; and he looks at her like she's the crazy one here. "Seriously? You show up here with a line about maybe not being able to fly, and a story about Hell Hounds, and expect us to just pretend like nothing happened?"

She shrugs, but the movement is overly stiff and Dean almost winces out loud when he realizes that one of her shoulders has been dislocated. "Ariel, you're still pretty beaten up." He ignores the look Sam gives him (Bitchface #6; the one where he looked offended that Dean interrupted him), and continues to stare levelly at Ariel as he waits for her response.

"I'll manage." She says with a tight smile, and that crack on her lip splits open again, and the hand with the broken finger quickly rises to dab at it ineffectually.

"Screw that." Dean grouses, before he closes his eyes and _wills_ Gabriel and Castiel into the room with as much faith as he can muster on only an hour of sleep.

The room is almost instantly filled with the rushing of wings, and Cas actually catches his breath as he sees his sister, and Gabriel looks about ready to level the entire town as he glares at Dean. "What did you two muttonheads _do_?"

"Nothing, Gabe," Ariel looks almost amused as she throws a half-hearted glare Dean's way, "they didn't do anything to me."

Gabriel's on his knees on the floor in front of her faster than Dean can blink, and he must be doing something with that Angel mojo of his, because the cut on her lips is gone, and the bruise is quickly fading from her jaw. "Then who the hell ruffled my sister's feathers, because so help me, I will _end_ them!"

Sam manages a faint snort of laughter at that, and even Dean has to admit that the wording is fairly entertaining. Ariel, on the other hand, is giving him the softest smile imaginable and giving his shoulder a squeeze with her now-healed fingers. "Maybe later, Alligator."

Dean, admittedly, has to bite back a laugh at that, because _really_? That's the line she's gonna go with? But then he sees the way it makes Gabriel react, the way his shoulders relax and the iron rod seems to be ripped right out of his spine, his head tipping forward in relief.

"After a while then, Crocodile." He whispers back, and the whole room falls silent as they sit there like that, just sharing each other's space as Gabriel continues to heal her vessel, and Cas stands by awkwardly, looking like he wants to help, but unsure of how to do just that.

"Ariel, your wings…" The brunette finally manages, and the other four inhabitants of the room snap their heads around to look at him.

"_Wings_?" Sam and Dean ask in unison, completely confused.

"Oh…" Ariel looks over one shoulder at something neither Hunter can see, and frowns slightly. "Yeah…" She paused for a moment before she shook her head. "But they'll be fine, Castiel, don't worry about it."

Cas, however, looked like he wasn't planning to do anything _but_ worry, so Dean decided to jump in before the Angel could verbally fret further. "Why didn't they heal when you got a boost from Sam?"

"Because the damage to my vessel was more pressing. My wings could wait, Annie couldn't."

Sam was starting to look as worried as Cas was, and the elder Hunter decided to simply throw caution to the wind and offer up an olive branch, no matter how ragged it might be from being horded all this time since he and Ariel had met. "Use me, then." Dean could swear he _heard_ the snap of Sam's neck as the younger Hunter turned to look at him, incredulity written clearly over his face.

"That could work!" Gabe piped up before Sam had the chance to do more than open his mouth. "It'll be a rough ride though, bucko, you sure you want that?"

"It doesn't matter what I want," the Hunter grumbled, "what matters is that none of you can just mojo her wings better and if a soul is what it takes, it might as well be mine."

Cas looked as lost as Sam, but Ariel was smiling gently across the room at him. "Gabriel." The name was spoken as a command, and the Archangel obediently snapped his fingers and sent them both into the room Ariel and Sam had previously occupied. "He's right you know," she spoke from her perch on the edge of the bed, "it will be a rough ride."

"Yeah, I know." Even though he really doesn't. He hasn't had people rummage around beneath his ribs before, and he isn't exactly looking forward to it now. "Just get it over with, will ya?"

She nods, patting the bedspread, and inviting him to lie down. "Unless you'd prefer me to do it up against the wall." She chips in brightly when he hesitates, and he gives her a scathing look before he lies next to her and waits, ignoring the churning in the pit of his stomach that's telling him to run like hell.

"So…" But he trails off when she puts her forehead against his, her knees suddenly bracketing his hips, and he has to remind himself repeatedly, as one of her hands trails down his chest, that she's a celestial being and he shouldn't be getting ideas like that about a girl like her.

"I'd like to say in advance that I'm sorry about this." She mutters, and he can feel her warm breath hitting his mouth and chin as she speaks. "But I'm going to make this as painless as possible."

"Look, I might be new at this, but that doesn't mean you have to treat me like a freakin' _virgin_." He chuckles, trying to hide how nervous he really feels. "Let's just get this over with."

She leans back, looking at him closely for a moment before she presses two fingers gently to his forehead, and he can feel something warm and comfortable settle into his bones. "Count backwards from ten."

He does as instructed, breathing evenly as the warmth floods through him, and he wonders if maybe that's her Grace, pushing its way through his veins and making him feel at ease. Or, maybe…

His thoughts are cut short as he feels her hand sink into him, and he screams. He denies it later, of course, and he thinks that maybe Gabriel sound-proofed the room they were in, because Sam says he didn't hear much, and Dean makes a mental note to thank whoever is responsible for that.

Her free hand holds him down by the shoulder, keeping him from moving. And when he feels her fingers wrap around his soul, brushing gently and oh-so carefully, his eyes fly open of their own accord, and he can see her wings.

And it's not like before with Cas, where it was merely a shadow, this is the real deal, and they look so close that Dean wants to reach out and run his fingers through the brilliant feathers. They fan out from her back, six proud, imposing wings that span the breadth of the room and stretch upwards towards the ceiling. They're glowing like her eyes, and he can't quite tell what color they are, but his fingers are twitching in an attempt to try and find out, and it's only the whisper in his ear that he has to close his eyes that makes him look away.

* * *

Sam is sitting on the bed, trying not to fidget, when the fluttering of wings alerts him to the new arrival, and he snaps his head up to see Ariel holding Dean upright with one of her arms slung around his waist, and the other holding the wrist of his arm that's slung about her shoulders. "Cas." The tone in her voice is one of command again, and the Angel moves to help her instantly, taking Dean's weight and moving him carefully to the empty bed. "He's fine," Ariel assures Sam before he's done more than open his mouth, "just worn out."

"Geez, sis, whatdja do to him over there?" Gabriel asks with a wink, but even in the dim light from the lamp, Sam can see the spark of concern in the Archangel's gaze as he glances over at the Hunter.

Ariel, however, throws him a disapproving look and stays right where she is. "Purgatory really took it outta the kid," she manages after a moment longer of silence, "I guess having me touch his soul after all that may have taken more energy on his part than I'd first imagined."

Sam doesn't miss the way Cas' spine stiffens at the mention of that place, but he chooses to ignore it in favor of raising an eyebrow at the Seraphim. "What do you mean?"

She sighs faintly and looks Dean over for a moment before replying. "His soul was… Tarnished by his time there. My Grace touching it cleansed that stain from it, but it took a lot out of him in the process. I hadn't really thought that would happen simply by coming into contact with me." She sent Sam an apologetic look. "If I had known that, I would have suffered through a few broken wings."

Gabe sent her a look that screamed disapproval over that plan, but Sam appreciated the sentiment, even though he probably shared her brother's view on the idea. He didn't want her to suffer any more than she had to, and Dean did appear unharmed, although admittedly unconscious, but his chest was rising and falling in a smooth, easy rhythm, so the initial panic that had risen in Sam's chest had quickly subsided.

Who knew, maybe a little Angel-induced down time was just what the elder Hunter needed.

* * *

Dean's eyes fluttered open with a great deal of effort on the Hunter's part, and when they were finally open and focused, he found himself staring up at the ceiling of their most recent flop. He vaguely recalled Ariel popping into their room the night before, and then… And then he sat up with a start, because the memory of six proud, luminescent wings popped into his head, and he needed to know if he'd imagined them or not.

He immediately regretted sitting up so quickly, as his head began to spin from the sudden motion, and a pair of hands landed lightly on his shoulders, a familiar chuckle sounding into the room. "Whoa there, big boy," Ariel spoke softly, "don't go breaking anything."

"Ugh. How long have I been out?" He suddenly realized that maybe it hadn't been only four hours since he'd slipped into beautiful black oblivion, and that might explain the sudden onset of lightheadedness.

"About two days now." She answered after a pause, and merely smiled sweetly at the look Dean threw her way. "I had Cas watching over you, mostly, but I think he started to go a little stir-crazy stuck in here 24/7, so I sent him out with Sam to go track something down." Dean was halfway into a complaint before she held up her hand and cut him off. "At the _library_, Dean."

He huffed out a breath in a way he hoped conveyed his displeasure over being dumped on a bed for two days. "Why am I not starving right now?" He asked suddenly, realizing he actually felt quite full.

"When I said Cas was watching over you, I meant it in several senses of the term."

Dean stared at her before he let out a faint chuckle and shook his head. "So my stomach's full of Angel mojo. Awesome."

She gave his stomach a very serious look before she shook her head. "Actually no, Cas put one of your favorite bacon burgers in there last… Along with a milkshake and a good deal of fries, and I think that's even a shot of…"

"Okay, seriously?" Dean interrupted, holding his hands up for her to stop. "I don't need a menu, Ariel."

She managed a faint smile and nodded, looking the rest of him over as well. "Are you feeling alright otherwise?" She asked tentatively. "I know it was kind of rough on you during the process, so…" She trailed off, managing to look both apologetic and hopeful at the same time.

"Yeah, I feel fine." He said after a moment, mentally checking himself over. "But, there is one thing I want to ask you about." He waited until she'd motioned for him to continue, and then licked his lips nervously before he spoke. "I… Saw your wings."

"I know." She grinned. "I gotta hand it to you, kiddo, I'm pretty impressed."

He blinked, surprised at her laid-back reaction. It was a far cry from the long, eloquent speech about secrecy he'd been expecting. "Seriously?"

"Not many mortals can see my wings and live to tell the tale." She winked, standing up from the bed and making her way towards the door. "So yeah, that earns you some points for sure." She looked him over one last time, and Dean felt like perhaps she wasn't looking at the surface this time. "Go freshen up, if you want, and then I can take us to the library. I'm sure Sam will be happy to see you up and around."

Dean nodded distractedly as she slipped out of the room, and he got to his feet and moved over to his duffel bag, pulling out a fresh change of clothes (apparently Cas' definition of _watching over_ also involved putting him in pajamas, and he really hoped the Angel had simply mojoed them on) and his toothbrush before shuffling to the bathroom.

He felt weird; he decided as he looked at himself in the mirror and tried to place the strange sensation that was now settled behind his ribs. Lighter, perhaps, or something else equally unexpected and hard to explain. He shrugged off the moment in favor of changing into his jeans, and tried not to think about what was really carrying him to the library as he left the motel room and had Ariel grin and touch two fingers to his forehead.

The last thing he needed was one more reason to over-think things.

* * *

_So, these are less sequential in the normal sense, and more just tidbits here and there that vaguely fit together. If that makes sense._

_Anywho. I hope you're enjoying it, assuming you had the patience to read this far. XD  
_

* * *

_The song _"Pressure" _belongs to: _Paramore


	3. Where the Lines Overlap

_A smidge shorter than the last, and I'm sorry it took so long to finish up... New Year shenanigans will do that to your writing. XD_

* * *

It happened out of the blue, with no warning whatsoever one day in the middle of a hunt, when Dean had suddenly gotten curious and poked his nose in where it didn't technically belong. He'd been on the laptop, looking for some bit of information that Sam swore was on there, and that's when he found it.

It looked innocent enough, a file simply entitled _A.M., _and Dean clicked on it to see if this was the file Sam had been talking about. And then he saw the driver's license and the birth certificate and spit his mouthful of coffee back into his mug right as his little brother opened the door.

"Dean?" The younger man asked, an eyebrow arching and Bitchface #10 (one that promised Dean _months_ of torment if he was using Sammy's laptop to look up porn), surfaced.

"Ariel!" It certainly wasn't the most graceful summons on the face of the earth, but it worked just fine, because barely a full two seconds after the name left his lips, the Seraphim was standing by his shoulder, looking at the laptop's screen and blinking in surprise.

"Where'd you unearth that?" She asked, directing the question to the room at large, but sending Dean a rather curious look.

"Is that _your_ Annie?" He asked, pointing at the screen, and the gears began to click in Sam's head as he realized what his brother must have found.

"Yeah, it is." Ariel admitted with a shrug. "Why?"

"_Why_?" Dean repeated, his voice spiking up an octave in accusation. "Because I know that last name, and I will admit to not being very comfortable knowing that your vessel is the granddaughter of our big daddy demon!"

Sam licked his lips nervously, and Dean noticed from the corner of his eye the way his brother suddenly looked far too guilty for his own good. "Dean, look…"

"You knew, didn't you?" He rounded on the younger Hunter. "Why didn't you _say so_, Sammy?"

"Because it wasn't important, Dean!" He snapped back, suddenly on the defensive. "She had no idea who her granddad was, she grew up here, and she probably doesn't even know what _Demons_ are! When I told you she checked out, I meant it!"

Dean had opened his mouth, ready to snap back at his brother, but Ariel slammed the top of the laptop shut and leaned in close enough to hiss into his ear, a sensation that had Dean instantly even more on edge than he had been before. "Look, _Winchester_," and the name sounded like an insult as it rolled from her tongue, "I didn't just hi-jack Annie and decide to take her for a joy ride. I asked her. I spent _months_ telling her what would happen and how her life would change, I gave her so many chances to back out I'm actually a little surprised she didn't." Her tone softened slightly, and she gave Dean back a few inches of personal space. "So please, for the love of _Dad_, stop pointing the finger my way whenever something goes wrong."

Dean took a steadying breath, ready to say God only knew what, but when he turned to look at the spot she'd been occupying, she was gone. And then he felt a sinking in his stomach, because he'd just pissed off a Seraphim, and yeah, the floor was probably going to swallow him at any second.

Sam looked similarly discomfited for another three seconds before he took in a half breath and closed his eyes. "Gabriel, we need you."

"The hell are you _doing_?!" Dean hissed, even less thrilled about the prospect of the Archangel getting mad at them because they'd upset his big sister.

"Oh, right, because you have a better idea." Sam snapped, plopping down into the seat opposite his brother. "And before you start tearing into me; this is _precisely _why I didn't tell you about her." He glared across the table, warning Dean not to interrupt, and then continued. "I asked Ariel about it while you were unconscious last week. She told me about Annie, everything she had to do and everything she could have done but didn't. She's not the villain you make her out to be, Dean, and I don't see why you can't just accept that."

Dean let out a sigh, shaking his head, but was stopped from replying properly by the sound of fluttering wings filling the room. Both boys turned to look at a slightly confused looking Castiel standing not two feet from, his head tilted off to one side in consideration, as though he were listening to something they couldn't hear, and then he straightened and nodded to them. "Hello."

"Cas?" Dean looked him over; curious as to why he'd popped up this time, since neither of them had prayed for him.

"Gabriel asked that I come by and see what you needed," he said by way of explanation, "he is under the impression you request his presence even when you do not need the full power an Archangel possesses. He believes it is due to his glittering personality, but I'm not sure he quite has that right." He seemed to consider it seriously for a moment before his face cleared and he glanced between the two of them. "So why did you ask for him?"

"We wanted to ask him about Ariel." Dean decided to ignore the comment about Gabe's _glittering personality_, and instead decide to glare the shorter man into submission the next time he saw him.

"What exactly would you like to know?" Cas asked, pulling out the third chair at the table and sitting on the edge of it, elbows on his knees. He looked more serious than Dean had seen him in a while, and for some reason that unnerved him just a little.

"We wanted to know about her and her vessel." The elder Hunter replied before Sam managed to get a word in edgewise. "More specifically, why she picked who she did."

Cas' mouth pressed into a thin line, his mind evidently whirring away behind his blue eyes, and for a few awkward moments, silence filled the room. "Unfortunately," the Angel replied at last, "I can't answer that question. You'd have to ask Ariel herself that."

"We might have… Made her a little mad." Sam said tentatively, looking like Cas might threaten to kill a basket of puppies at the news.

"Oh." Was the simple reply, and Cas looked a touch uncomfortable as he sat back in his seat and folded his hands into his lap. "I see."

"You do?" Dean asked, not even trying to keep the incredulity out of his tone. "Really?"

"Ariel is very protective of her vessel, Dean. And for very good reason." He looked like a schoolboy who was about to rat out another student, and Dean decided that he should probably just let Cas divulge while he was in the mood and not interrupt. "Angels, like me, can take on any vessel that is willing. We may shift bodies without too much difficulty, and often use more than one vessel in order to act as the messengers of God." He paused, letting that sink in for a moment before he continued. "Seraphim do not act that way. Once they choose a vessel, it is often for life. If the Seraphim leaves the vessel, it will be to return to heaven, not to take on another body, and if they wish to return, they will take on their former vessel once again." He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and Dean realized that Cas was actually telling them something he shouldn't be. "That is why Ariel is so protective of Annie. If anything were to happen to her, it is unlikely that Ariel would be able to find another vessel."

Well that would explain it. "Oh." The elder Hunter managed faintly, gears suddenly clicking in his head. "But, when she brought Gabriel back…?"

"That was a simple transference of Grace from one body to another." Cas said, as though it were the simplest thing in the world. "Ariel gave over Annie's body to Gabriel for safe-keeping while she reconstructed his former vessel and then return to Annie again once she was finished." He glanced up and caught the confused looks on their faces, and managed a very faint smile. "It's less complicated for us than it sounds, I assure you."

"I'll take your word for it." Dean muttered, shaking his head and sitting back in his seat.

"Speaking of Archangels," Sam began after a moment's pause, "why did Gabe send you instead of coming himself?"

Cas blinked twice in quick succession and then replied in the simplest terms he could conjure up. "He had to see a man about a dog."

* * *

There were times, in his long, sordid existence that Gabriel sometimes forgot who he'd been before he'd (as Dean so tactfully put it), "_run off and joined the pagans_"_. _He'd been _the_ Archangel Gabriel. The one, the only, the powerful and absolute. But then he'd flown the coop, as it were, and turned into the devious, delightfully entertaining Trickster Extraordinaire, and he'd stopped worrying about the rest of the world.

But then he'd taken the advice of those muttonheads and stood up to his brother, and it had gotten him toasted like a marshmallow over an open fire, and he'd ended up good and truly dead. But there had been light at the end of the tunnel, and this time it wasn't hellfire, it was his big sister come to piece him back together again shard by shard.

And now he was here, doing his duty as both Archangel Gabriel and little brother to one of the best sisters on the face of the planet, and he was doing as he'd promised, and ending the sorry son of a bitch that had ruffled his sister's feathers.

Admittedly, there was really only so much someone like him could do to a sniveling little wretch like the Demon now panting on its knees before him before it went too far, but he did thoroughly enjoy knowing that the thing was suffering as much as his sister had.

"I didn't know who she was!" It spat out a mouthful of blood, coughing from what was likely even more crimson liquid filling its lungs slowly. There was a broken end of a rib jabbing its way viciously into his left lung, and Gabriel presumed that was what was making it hard to breathe. Well, that and the Holy Water I.V. he'd slid into the Demon's arm.

So nice to have one's mojo work no matter where one was.

"Who did you think she was?" He asked, in a tone that would have made even Dean shudder. "Who did you think you were sending your Hounds after? Some measly little messenger?"

"I didn't know," it mumbled around another mouthful of blood, "Crowley asked to borrow my Hounds, and…" It stopped, coughing up another generous amount of blood.

Gabriel glared at the creature, disgusted by the entire ordeal. He didn't like getting his hands dirty, preferring to let his little mojo-made monsters do it instead, and stooping as low as this, well… "Why?"

"Said something about asserting himself. Something about needing to assure the rest of us she wasn't a threat."

Gabriel didn't need any more than that, he put the thing out of its misery and let out a huff of annoyance as he walked away from the corpse. "Not a threat." He muttered, moving through the warehouse before he zapped off anywhere. "Damn right she's a threat…!" He felt his spine go stiff at the thought that anyone might doubt that. Be it the king of hell, or one of his sniveling little minions.

* * *

Dean wasn't really paying attention as he cleaned his gun, but the motions were so familiar they came as second nature to him now, and he hardly even had to think about what he was doing as he carefully disassembled the firearm and then went over each component with an oiled rag.

Sam had vanished out the door about ten minutes earlier, leaving Dean alone with his thoughts and the firm command to "_suck it up and just say you're sorry_". And the elder Hunter had intended to do just that. To tell his stubborn pride to go screw itself and just get the chick-flick moment over with, but then his body had decided that no, it wasn't going to listen to a single command he gave it, and instead of closing his eyes and bowing his head, he'd grabbed his gun and started to clean it the way he did every time he needed to clear his head.

And normally, that would have worked. He would have calmed down as the cool metal slid through his fingers and fitted back together under his guidance. He would have found comfort in the weight of the bullets as he put them back into the clip, but today it was different. Today he had a tiny Sam in the back of his head screaming at him to just pray and ask for forgiveness (which Dean refused to find funny, even though it was), and the array of metal parts held no comfort for him.

So, once the gun had been split into all its separate pieces, well cleaned, and then reassembled, Dean found himself feeling just as uncomfortable as he had been before he'd started. But somewhere amid his uneasiness, he decided that enough was enough, and the words slipped past his lips before he gave them a second thought.

"Look, Ariel, I'm sorry about earlier," and yeah, he really was, "but do you think you could come down here and talk to me? Preferably without the lightning and thunder and smiting, because I don't know about you, but I like my hide the way it currently is." He paused for a few heartbeats and waited, eyes still closed, and when he heard a faint rustling fill the room he tentatively opened his eyes and looked across the table to the girl sitting there.

"Thunder and lightning is more Raphael's thing, remember?" She said softly, not quite looking him in the eye. "Apology accepted, by the way," she added when she realized he still looked worried, "and I wouldn't smite you over something as stupid as calling me out on my vessel. I'm not that petty."

"Well with your family history, I wouldn't be too sure of that…" The comment earned him a glare, but it was mild in comparison to the one he'd been expecting, so he didn't let it bother him. "So are we good now?" He asked tentatively after a pause.

"Dean," Ariel shook her head, "I might get exasperated with you from time to time, but I will never hate you. It's not in my nature." He arched an eyebrow at her, ready to call bullshit, but she continued before he had the chance. "I'm a guardian, Dean, I look after people and places and things. It used to be my Father's throne, then it was my little brothers who needed my help," she smiled softly, "and now it's you."

There was no lump in Dean's throat, it was simply his imagination, and he did not have to take a moment before he replied to be sure that his voice came out at the right octave. "What makes us so damn special?"

She grinned. "Ever notice how you attract trouble like a freakin' magnet, Dean?" She waited for him to give her a look, complete with tight lips and lowered brows, before she continued. "But you attract good things too. And the funniest thing is; you never notice until someone points it out to you."

He sat back in his chair, trying to find a position that was comfortable as her gaze dissected him slowly. "I'm not entirely sure what you're trying to get at, so you might want to be a bit clearer." And he was expecting an eye roll, or an exasperated sigh, but none came.

"Cas is still around, Dean, even after all the crap he put you and your brother through, _he came back_. Gabriel could have gone anywhere, could have decided to screw this marble and go check out another, but no. He came to see you. He stuck around." She leaned in a little closer. "Getting my point now?"

And the Hunter did get it. Because no matter how _wrong_ things went, they always turned out alright in the end. And sure, no plan they'd ever hatched had been perfect, and most had been crafted from whatever the hell they happened to have in their pockets at the time, but they made it work. They took hopeless situations and made them not quite so hopeless, and that was a pretty okay plan in Dean's mind. He could live with slap-dash plans and pieced together information because that was what they did, and they were damn good at it.

"So stop looking like I have any right to be mad at you, because I honestly don't. And I'm not looking for an excuse to turn you into a pile of ash, so stop trying to find one for me."

"I'm not…" Dean began to protest, but stopped when she raised an eyebrow at him.

"What, precisely, is it you think you deserve to be killed for, Dean? Do you honestly think I would have jumped through all the hoops I have if I didn't think your soul was worth saving. And save me the speech about not being worthy, because I heard it verbatim from Cas, and I wanted to deck you for breaking my little brother's heart with that." She realized she'd been leaning in closer across the table as she spoke and checked herself, leaning back in her seat once more. "You're smart, Dean, clever too, you wouldn't have survived in Purgatory if you weren't."

"That was different." He snapped without thinking, gaze meeting hers as he felt his heart begin to race. "That was instinct and survival, and I'm good at that. Hell, that's probably the only thing I am good at, making things bleed. Because that's the family business." His sardonic smile belied his light words, and he saw the way Ariel's eyes softened just slightly at the edges. "So don't give me the speech about being a man worth saving, because I got that more than enough from Cas, and I don't need it from you too."

"Then what do you need?" The question caught him off guard, and he stared at her for several seconds before she repeated herself, a little softer this time. "What do you need from me, Dean?"

He took his time answering that question, because he doubted he'd ever get the chance to say this again. So he thought long and hard before he opened his mouth, and when he finally did, his voice came out softer than he'd intended but he tried not to think about it. "I want you to stay." And he would deny to his dying day that he ever choked up on that sentence, because there was no way he was having a chick-flick moment with an actual chick and getting emotional about it.

"Then I'll stay." Ariel replied with a smile so soft Dean was sure he would melt right out of his seat at the sight of it. "For as long as you want me."

"Who said I wanted you?" He teased gently, still unsure of how solid the ground he was treading here was. That was one thing about Ariel he still hadn't gotten used to, the way her emotions changed so rapidly. Some days his jokes would be well-received, and even returned, and others she'd merely send him a glare that could slay and act like he'd never even opened his mouth.

She grinned, always a good sign, and Dean realized that today was one of her tease-back days. "Oh, kiddo, the signs are everywhere!" She stood and rounded the table towards him, and he felt his pulse pick up a pace. "But mostly, it's because you just asked me to stick around, when you could have gotten rid of me permanently." She leaned in a pressed a light kiss to his forehead, a motion that was both familiar to the Hunter, and yet so foreign as well. "I won't let you down."

Dean let out a huff of laughter, not looking at her, even after she pulled away again. "I wouldn't hold it against you if you did… Most other people have."

She gave him a look that he recognized from Cas, one that was full of determination and maybe just a dash of annoyance over being doubted. "I," she stated simply, "am not most other people."

"Oh you got that right, sweetheart." And no, he did not just call her that, it was his imagination playing tricks on him. "And while we're on the subject of you and how you're different," he continued quickly to cover up his slip of the tongue, "how come you picked Annie, if you don't mind my asking."

She shrugged, sitting back down and folding her arms. "She was the one. Like how Michael wanted to jump your bones because you were special, or how Luci _hounded_ Sam because he was supposed to be _the_ vessel for him." She grinned at his pained expression. "It was sort of the same for me. I knew Annie was the one I was meant to pick, so I picked her. I mean, I had to talk to her and let her know who I was and that I meant her no harm and all that jazz, but… Yeah." She shrugged again, looking almost a little uncomfortable now. "She's still in here, dreaming sweet dreams… I plan to leave her whole, if I ever do leave, and I want to make sure she's happy after I'm gone."

"You really look after your vessel, don't you?" Dean asked, remembering in vivid detail the state Raphael's vessel had been in before they'd pissed him off enough to react. Dean had thought that maybe they were all that way, but Ariel seemed to take a different approach. "What's it like for her, in there with you?"

"Like being hog-tied to a galaxy, I'm told." She managed a faint smirk. "I'm worse than even the Archangels, when it comes to occupying space."

"I would have thought it would be different." He admitted softly. "I mean, you might be higher up the food chain, but you don't do much up there in the clouds, do you?"

She laughed. "No, not really. But, if anything got that far, through all my younger siblings and threatened my Father's throne, I would need the power to do something about it."

The nonchalance with which she spoke bothered Dean for a reason he couldn't quite pinpoint, and he felt his mouth tug downwards into a frown, unbidden. "So, what, you just decide to use your powers to bring back the dead and not take care of the living?"

Her eyes narrowed, and her lips mimicked his in a frown. "Dean, I can't just run around smiting whoever I see fit. It doesn't work like that."

"Then please explain to me why you can't just snap your fingers and turn Crowley, or any number of his Demons, into Demon stew."

"Crowley's off limits for another reason entirely," she replied faintly, "and even if he weren't, I can't just go around screwing with the balance of the world, Dean."

"World seems to be pretty out of balance from where I'm sitting." He snapped back. "You could probably do something about that, couldn't you? And what the hell makes Crowley so special?"

"He and I made a deal." The reply was barely even a whisper into the quiet air of the motel room, but Dean still managed to hear her.

The Hunter felt the wind leave his lungs in a rush, the simple sentence coming like a physical blow and knocking the breath right out of him. His jaw went a little slack, and his eyes widened, and then his teeth clenched and he glared at her, eyes narrowing. "Wanna run that one by me again?" It was less of a question, and more of a demand.

"Not a kiss-to-the-lips, sold-my-soul deal, Dean." She wanted to make that perfectly clear. "More of an… Arrangement. I keep my hands to myself where he's concerned, and he'll do the same for me and mine. Nothing more than an agreement. No writing, no smooching, nothing official."

"Then how the hell do you know whether he's keeping up his end?" He demanded. "He's a slippery little bastard, you know that, right?"

"Yes, I know, but I also know he likes being where he is, and he won't do anything to jeopardize his position, and that includes pissing me off." She gave Dean an annoyed look. "I trust him to know what'll happen if he doesn't keep up his end of the deal."

"And what would happen, exactly?" Dean asked; curiosity more than anything burning inside him at this point. He wanted to ask about the details of the bargain, who it was that counted as Ariel's "_mine_", and why the hell she'd agree to such a deal in the first place, but he decided that one question at a time was a better way to go.

Her grin bordered on being downright creepy, and Dean decided then and there he never wanted to be on the receiving end of it again. "I'd turn him and all his little Demons into Demon stew."

* * *

Castiel was perched at the end of the motel, elbows on his knees as he occupied one side of the rusty metal bench that sat there next to the ice machine, and watched the world drift by in a blur of light and sound. The highway was a mile or two from his seat, but he could see and hear it perfectly well despite that, and enjoyed watching the people pass by without a thought for who might be watching them, or what else might be going on around them.

He had taken up sitting here over night as Dean had given him several lengthy (and a few very short, _very _pointed) lectures on how much he disliked having the Angel sit in the room awake all night while he and his brother attempted to sleep. Admittedly, Castiel could understand their hesitance over it, humans were rather odd in that respect, but at the same time it made him feel a little sad. He only wanted to help the brothers, and so had resigned himself to the bench to give them their privacy and yet ensure he could reach them easily if something important came up.

He had just begun listening to a preacher on the radio (who's theology wasn't quite so flawed as some of them and had very moving sermons), when a presence beside him made him turn his head that way, and he was greeted with the sight of Ariel lounging against the hard metal beside him, her eyes directed towards the highway as well.

"Sister…?" It was part greeting, part question, and it earned him one of the smiles he'd seen so long ago when he'd first met his elder sister near the steps of their Father's throne.

"Don't panic, Cas, I just came to see how you were doing."

The nickname sounded unfamiliar from her lips, but at the same time the younger Angel liked hearing her say it. "I'm fine." It was a term he'd heard Dean use more times than he could count, and he knew it was normally used in a sarcastic manner, but he meant it.

"Good to hear." She still wasn't looking at him, her eyes trained on the distant skyline as though it would be rude of her to look away from it. "Cas, will it bother you if I stick around for a while?"

The question wasn't one he had been expecting, and it took him a moment to fully process what she'd just said, and then reply. "Why would your company bother me? It's quite… nice to see you again, to be able to talk to you." In Heaven, before… well, _before_, she had been off-limits to him in a way. Seraphim weren't meant to mingle with the younger Angels unless instructed to do so, and Castiel was a mere messenger, not a guardian of their Father's throne. He was an insignificant little speck, compared to her, and he would be lying if he said it wasn't nice to feel needed by his big sister now that she was on earth.

"I just wanted to be sure I wasn't crashing your party."

Castiel could hear the sadness in her voice, and did her the favor of returning his own gaze to the skyline as well, giving her as much privacy as their close proximity would allow. "If you were the one doing the crashing, I don't think I would mind very much." He heard her chuckle, and felt better for it. "I know you and the Winchesters do not always see perfectly eye-to-eye, but I believe they will be grateful for your assistance once they understand your motives behind it."

"And what motives might those be, Cas?" She asked, almost more of herself then him.

"You are a guardian." He replied instantly. "It is your purpose and duty to guard those who need protection, even if they do not believe themselves to be in danger."

Her next words were barely more than a whisper, and he could smell the salt on the air as her vessel cried. "If I'm a guardian, Castiel, then who's going to guard me?"

He looked at her then, and found her green eyes already directed onto him. Unconsciously, he reached out one hand and wiped gently at the tear track on her cheek with the pad of his thumb, the faintest of smiles tugging at his lips. "If there is one thing I have learned from Sam and Dean, it is that family looks out for one another."

She laughed, although there was sorrow in the sound, and he suddenly found himself being embraced by arms that felt far too strong to belong to the girl beside him. "Good thing I have such great brothers then, huh?"

He tentatively put a hand on her back, hugging her back gently and letting his eyes dip closed as he felt the hum of her Grace begin to resonate against his own, a strange sort of music coming from the combination. "You might say that, yes."

She pulled away far enough to press a kiss to his forehead, and he was instantly reminded of the first time they had met, when he had been nothing more than a tiny little fledgling, and she had leant down to kiss his forehead and tell him that there were great things in store for him. And even after all this time, and all the trials he had faced, he'd never forgotten those whispered words.

Nor had he ever doubted them.

* * *

_Couldn't resist letting Gabriel get in there and rough up the Demon a little. XD  
_

_And Cas is so fun to write for, I might try to do it more. Especially with him and Ariel.  
_

* * *

_The song _"Where the Lines Overlap" _belongs to: _Paramore


	4. That's What You Get

_Sorry this update took so long, I've been jumping through hoops to start up school again and haven't had the chance to just sit and write. Apologies!_

* * *

The day had started off so nicely, with a pot of fresh coffee waiting for him when he woke up and a day that promised to be clear of any sort of creepy-crawlies, but right around eleven, things started to get weird. And if Dean Winchester, Hunter Extraordinaire and diner at the Buffet of Strange, thought things were weird then they bordered on being all kinds of mushroom-inspired _crazy_.

It had started with Cas fluttering in unexpectedly, his tie even more askew than normal and a smear of something black and gooey on his trench coat. He nodded at them, apparently out of breath, before he addressed them properly. "Hello."

"Ah, Cas?" Sam was sitting at the table, his fingers hovering above the keyboard, paused in their typing. "What happened to you?"

The Angel looked down at himself, quickly attempting to straighten his lost cause of a tie before he peered at the goo on his coat and frowned. "I found a job."

Dean, who had been attempting to salvage what remained of the morning by downing his not-quite-turpentine coffee, realized that it was all about to start going downhill at a breakneck speed. "What sort of job?"

"The sort of job we do…?" Cas' head tilt bordered on being expected at this point, as his tone indicated he wasn't sure what Dean meant by that, exactly. "There's a restless spirit inhabiting one of the graveyards near here, and I located it."

Sam arched his eyebrows, giving the Angel a looking over before he spoke. "A _spirit_ did that to you?"

Cas again moved his hands to his tie, looking suddenly very uncomfortable, and Dean realized that he was embarrassed. "It took me by surprise." He mumbled at last, not looking at either of them.

Dean snorted, draining the last of his coffee and setting the mug on the table. "Well then, we better go salt this sucker."

"It won't be that easy, Dean." Cas spoke up, finally lifting his gaze to look the hunter in the eye. "I identified the woman who came after me, and I discovered she was already cremated."

"So then what the hell is left for her to be haunting with?" He asked, arms crossing over his chest. He didn't like cases that weren't straightforward; he preferred to salt and burn and get the hell out of Dodge, not hunt down some stray bit of DNA that was hanging around the place.

"I have Ariel looking into it."

At that point, Dean decided that maybe today couldn't get any weirder. That, of course, was before Ariel turned up with her newfound information. It took the Seraphim another thirty minutes to finish whatever it was she was doing and come back to the hotel, and by that time Dean had given up hoping for a normal day. Between Gabriel appearing out of nowhere with a question for Sam about some obscure ritual or another (Dean honestly didn't want to know why the Archangel needed to know), and Cas sitting in front of the TV watching cartoons, his afternoon began with crazy, and escalated to pure insanity.

When Ariel did arrive, looking a bit disheveled with Ectoplasm smeared clear across one cheek; she looked between the three of them and then returned her gaze to Cas. "Can you please go get your brother off his backside and have him take Sam to the cemetery?"

Dean opened his mouth, ready to protest, but Sam beat him to it. "Gabriel's off doing some ritual or other…" He gestured vaguely, and Dean could have sworn he saw a flush slink up the back of his brother's neck.

"Oh, right," Ariel blinked several times in quick succession before she looked between the two brothers, "well then, who wants to deal with the ghost?"

Sam was on his feet before Ariel had even finished speaking, and he gestured towards Cas. "We got this. You look like you could take a break anyway…" He shot Dean a significant look (one that screamed for him to do something, but the _something_ in question was rather vague), and headed for the door, Cas quickly standing and switching off the television before he followed.

The silence that followed their departure was only a little awkward, and Dean finally decided to break it. "You gonna just leave that black goo there, or do you plan to do something about it?" And no, it wasn't his smoothest line ever, but he could live with that.

Ariel lifted a hand to her face, fingers brushing just under the smear of black, and she let out a huff of air that could almost be considered a laugh. "I forgot that was there…" She tipped her head towards the bathroom and arched an eyebrow at the Hunter. "Do you mind…?"

He shook his head quickly, and she moved off towards the bathroom. "So what spirit is it you sent our siblings after?" He asked after a short pause.

"Oh, just a restless spirit, nothing much…" Her voice filtered out of the bathroom to him as he heard the water begin running into the sink. "They should be back in an hour or two."

He hadn't meant to say it, when she first appeared in the room. He'd meant to keep the awkward question to himself and let her keep her secrets. But then the question had fallen from his lips before he had the chance to stop it. "What did it feel like?" She peered around the doorframe of the bathroom at him, an eyebrow arched in silent question, and Dean felt his heart start to pound, because this was not how he intended to have this conversation (he had envisioned there being a lot more alcohol involved, actually). But this, with the awkward silence stretching between them and her green eyes glued to his, this is not what he had been planning. "When Gabe died." He clarified, and instantly he wished he hadn't.

Her whole posture changed, from the way she was looking at him to the way her fingers curl in the fabric of the washcloth she was holding, and her eyes hardened in a way he knew all too well. "How do you think it felt, Dean?" Her tone is so hard as to be almost painful to listen to, but the Hunter presses on.

"I know, I mean…" He paused, trying to shake off her sharp gaze, and then continued in a softer tone. "When another Angel dies, how does it feel? Does it hurt, like an actual physical pain, or do you just have to deal with the grief of it?"

Her gaze softened slightly, and her posture relaxed into one that impresses upon him only mild disapproval, and she tipped her head slightly to one side, considering for a moment before she replied. "I suppose there is a… twinge, of sorts. When an Angel's Grace leaves a vessel quickly, there's a sort of energy wave that accompanies it." She pauses again, and Dean can see the way her eyes lose focus, as though she's looking at something through him. "It was more of a tug, for me. I was still in heaven at the time, so I couldn't feel it as forcefully as, say, one of the Angels on earth… But yes. There was a physical hurt that came from his passing." Her gaze refocused onto him, and she smiled sadly. "Does that answer your question?"

He can't look at her, can't stand to see the expression in her eyes that he's far too familiar with, from seeing it in the mirror more times than he'd like to count. He can see it, in his mind, the shock on her face, the wide eyes and slack jaw as the realization that her brother is gone dawns on her, and he doesn't even care about the fact that she wouldn't have looked the way she does now, because he's starting to have trouble dividing Annie from Ariel, the same way he struggles to separate Jimmy and Cas.

He can hear her screams in his mind, and he can't shut out the sounds of her sobs as they fill the conference room of the hotel, he can see her rocking back and forth with Gabriel's head in her lap, her whispered words of sorrow slipping past her lips in Enochian. He can see her tip her head towards the heavens and demand an answer from a Father who has long been silent. He can feel how she felt.

He snapped his gaze back up to meet hers, and catches the tear that's slipped from her eye, trailing idly down her cheek. "I'm sorry," she managed faintly as she wiped away that stray tear, "Gabe always told me I shared too much…"

"He was right." That seems to do the trick, because she manages a faint smile and dips her head, hiding what may very well be a few more stray tears that are making a break for it. "But I can't say I really mind."

She snaps her head back up so fast he has to suppress a wince, and the look on her face is one of complete surprise. "Really?"

He grins. "I went to Hell _and_ Purgatory," he reminds her with a chuckle, "I think I can handle a few Seraphim-induced emotions for a handful of seconds."

She manages another small smile, looking perhaps a little less sad, and he feels better for it. "I'm still sorry." Her gaze softens, and as she wipes at the last vestiges of Ectoplasm on her cheek, she tips her head to one side again. "For a lot of things, actually."

It's another impulse of his that he can't seem to stop, and before he quite knows what he's doing, he's across the room and taking the washcloth from her, wiping gently at a spot of Ectoplasm that she'd managed to miss right by her ear. "Don't know what you have to be sorry for, exactly, not much of this is your fault."

She held still, letting him wipe at the side of her face, and smiled faintly. "I left Cas to the wilds of the world and the whims of his brothers, I let you and Sam go about trying to save the world without help… I _let things happen_, Dean. Even unconsciously, that still makes them my fault."

"You couldn't have known." He breathed softly, needing her to not blame herself. He _needed _her to not feel like it was all her fault, because it honestly wasn't. "And even if you had, the hell were you meant to do about it?"

She fidgeted on the spot as he finally managed to wipe away the last vestiges of black goo and hand the washcloth back to her. "I should have looked sooner, Dean. I shouldn't have hidden for so long." He gave her a slightly confused look, and when she realized she hadn't followed her train of thought, she sighed softly and began to explain. "In Heaven, in my true form, my wings hide me from view." She held up two fingers, managing another small smile. "Two to cover my eyes, two to cover my body, and two to cover my feet. In essence, I'm a floating mass of feathers, and I only peer between the cracks when I am called to do so." Her hand fell back to her side, and her gaze lowered to where Dean knew his tattoo was hiding just below the collar of his shirt. "I hadn't heard my Father's voice in so long, I…" She shook her head. "I stopped caring what my siblings did. And then, when they called, I was too foolish to do anything."

"When who called?" He asked; picking the first question that fell to the tip of his tongue.

"Gabriel, actually." She shook her head, letting out another huff of laughter. "He always was persistent… But so gentle, under all that armor he wore." Her gaze softened as she paused, and he saw her eyes once again lose focus. "But by that time… He'd already left, and his prayers pulled me out of the daydream I'd been living in." She looked up at him, and the guilt was plainly written in her eyes. "I let them all down, Dean. And I'll never be able to fix that."

He opened his mouth to object, to tell her they were her family, and she shouldn't think that way, but before he got the chance, the door behind him opened, and Ariel vanished into thin air. "_Dammit_!" He hissed; glaring at the spot she'd only just been occupying.

"Dude, what'd you say to her?" Sam asked; the smirk audible in his tone.

"I do not believe Dean is responsible for her sudden departure…" Cas put in gently. "She has been known to drop everything in order to answer another call." He sounded like he knew that from experience, and Dean decided not to press the subject, hoping that's really all it was.

The last thing he needed on his case was a pissed-off Celestial Being.

* * *

Gabriel didn't even have to look up when he heard the tell-tale flutter of wings fill the apartment in Paris he'd picked out for himself, there really was only one person it could be. He'd spent a lot of time hiding from his siblings, but there'd always been one who could find him when the time came. "What's the matter, chickadee?" He asked off-handedly, turning the page of his paper and pretending to read the curling script of the headline. "Those boys get a little too friendly? You want me to roast 'em like chestnuts over an open fire?" He tipped a corner of the paper down and grinned at her over the top of it. "Cause I would, you know."

The little monologue had earned him a chuckle, and his grin softened a little at the corners as she moved across the room and perched on the corner of the velvet ottoman his feet were propped up on. "No, Gabe, that won't be necessary."

She had a nervous, distant look in her eyes that he didn't like, and he gently nudged her with one foot, an eyebrow arching. "Hey, what's wrong? You don't look too good."

She shook her head, as though trying to dispel whatever was bothering her, and offered him a strained smile. "Sorry, just remembering."

Gabriel felt something cold and unpleasant pool in the bottom of his stomach, and he folded his paper back properly, plopping it into his lap before he spoke. "Now sis, what have I told you about that?" He clicked his tongue disapprovingly, giving her a look. "No good ever comes of it, you know that."

"I know," she replied so softly he almost didn't hear her, "but Dean brought something up, and now I can't… I can't seem to stop."

He could feel it from here, the crackling dissonance in her Grace that told of something being truly wrong. It twisted at odd angles, and changed densities, as though not sure whether to be a shield or an escape route, and Gabriel unconsciously reached out to brush against it with his own. A faint hum greeted him, and the crackling slowly began to calm, like the receding thunder after a storm has passed. He frowned slightly, looking her over closely. "What exactly did Thing One say to you?"

That earned him a slight smirk, and she shrugged. "He asked how it felt to lose you."

Gabriel's whole posture seemed to slump, his eyes going soft as he watched her gaze trail away from his face and onto a spot on the cream carpet below them. "Oh, Ariel…"

"Oh no you don't," she reprimanded gently, her gaze still not quite meeting his, "don't you _oh Ariel_ me, Gabe. I've been looking after myself for quite some time already, thank you, and I can still do so now."

"But you _shouldn't have to_." He replied, sitting up straight and leaning closer across the space that divided them. "For once, you should sit back and let your little brothers pamper you, because it's _about time_ we did!" He fixed his best disapproving look onto her and continued in a softer tone. "You stitched me back together from _dust_, Ariel; the least I can do is look out for you now and again."

She laughed softly, and he could smell the tang of salt on the air from unshed tears in her eyes. "Okay." She breathed out at last. "I think I need to be looked out for now, please."

Gabriel decided being flashy wasn't necessary around his big sis, and instead stood up and walked around to stand behind her, his hands landing lightly against her shoulders and giving the tense muscles there a gentle squeeze. "All you had to do was ask."

She leaned into the touch just slightly, sighing as she felt the tension drain from her slowly. "Do you blame me, Gabriel? For what our brothers did to each other?"

The Archangel felt that same cold feeling slide back into his stomach, and he tried his hardest to push it away as he replied. "_Dad_, is that really what you think? C'mon, Ari, you know that's not true." He smoothed his hands along her shoulders, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of her head. "Those asshats did what they did of their own accord; you had nothing to do with it." He squeezed her shoulders tightly, giving them a gentle shake as though trying to shake some sense into her. "Besides, they only listened to Dad because they were terrified of him… If you'd stepped up, you would have been torn to shreds."

"And then where would you have been?" She asked softly, a teasing tone in her voice. He chuckled softly, rubbing her shoulders again gently, and she let her eyes flutter shut. "I tried, you know. I tried to stop them. But Raphael was so… _Insistent_." She let out a breathy sigh as Gabriel found a knot in her shoulder and started to work it out of the muscle. "He locked me up when I didn't fight back, when I told him I wasn't willing to kill my family." Her head tipped forward as Gabe's thumbs started to work up the back of her neck, and her next words were slightly muffled. "When I told him he would never sit on our Father's throne while I still protected it."

The Archangel's hands stilled against her neck, feeling her pulse quicken beneath the skin, and the nervous bob of her Adam's apple as she swallowed down a sob.

"I told him no, Gabriel, and he reacted like a petulant _child_ and threw a tantrum." She shook her head slowly, her shoulders curving forward as she bit back more tears. "And when I came back, when I was released from my cell… I walked into a Paradise I no longer recognized."

He gave up his position at her back, instead moving around to look her in the eye, tipping her face back up so that he could smile down at her gently. "Not. Your. Fault." He said in a tone that a kindergarten teacher might use on a disobedient child. "Just because our bastard brothers decided to wreck the playground while you were in time-out does not mean you have to feel guilty about it." He smirked. "Besides, the teacher's been gone far too long… You can't be expected to keep all those naughty children in line all by yourself."

She laughed at that, shaking her head at his antics before she smiled up at him. "I'll take that as the _stop worrying, Ariel_ that it's meant to be."

He tapped the end of her nose with a wink. "That's my girl. Now come on, let me give you a real massage." He grinned. "Your feathers are still ruffled, let me smooth 'em out for you."

She rolled her shoulders experimentally, glancing back into thin air before she looked back up at him. "It has been some time since they've been properly groomed…"

Gabriel beamed at her. "Perfect!"

* * *

Dean was staring at his mug, a dejected look on his face at the sad fact that it was now empty, and wondering why he was once again alone in the hotel room. He understood Sam ditching to go get food, that made perfect sense, but did Cas really have to go see his big brother _just_ because the Archangel had snapped his fingers and asked for a favor?

Somewhere along the way, Dean felt like he'd become the kid on the playground that no one wanted on their team. It wasn't a particularly nice feeling.

He let out a dejected sigh, standing up and moving towards the coffee maker in the corner of the room, before he heard the sound of wings fill the air and the soft _whump_ of something landing on the bed. He turned at the sound, surprised and a little uncertain of what had made it, and felt his eyebrows arch when he saw Ariel looking at him from the bed.

"You look… _odd_ from this angle." She pronounced after a moment, tipping her head to one side. She was on her back, her head hanging off the edge of the bed, and the tips of her hair nearly touching the grimy carpet on the floor. "Not _bad_," she continued in that same slightly slurred tone, "but certainly _odd_."

"The hell happened to you?" Dean asked after the span of about a heartbeat, taking in the contentedly blissful look on her face, and the idyllic smile on her lips.

"Had a massage." She replied promptly, stretching her arms out over her head, the backs of her hands grazing over the floor. "Let Gabriel groom my wings. Now I feel all…" She trailed off, wiggling her fingers as she looked for the proper word. "Fluffy."

Dean choked on a laugh as he continued to look at her. "Fluffy? You sure you're not on something?"

She looked at him with the widest, brightest green eyes he'd ever seen, the innocence on her face akin only to Cas'. "I am on something, Dean. I'm on your bed."

He pinched the bridge of his nose with a faint sigh, closing his eyes. "Yes, Ariel, I noticed. I meant narcotics." He looked up again when he heard her giggle and fly across the room, suddenly inches from his face. Her head was tipped off to the side again, her gaze so intense Dean had a hard time looking back at her, pinning him against the low table at his back by her proximity.

"Unless _you_ count as a drug, I don't think that applies to me." Her words were less slurred, probably because she was vertical this time around, but they were said with an undercurrent of emotion that Dean recognized all too well. She leaned in a little closer, forcing him to lean back, and her lips quirked upwards into a grin. "Why does your heart pound like that, Dean?" She asked suddenly, gaze fixed onto the pulse point on his neck. "Am I doing that?"

"You are kinda close, Ariel. Personal space and all that…"

"You never complained before." She pointed out, slowly pulling away. "And I think I know why…" Her gaze softened, flitting over his face before it returned to his eyes. "Are you ever going to stop feeling responsible for what happened?" One of her hands landed on his chest, right over his heart. "Are you ever going to let it go?"

"I can't." The admission was practically dragged from his lips, his voice little more than a harsh whisper. "I've _tried_, Ariel, but I can't." Memories were flooding into him, memories from Purgatory, where he fought tooth and nail to keep his head above the water and not drown, memories of _before_, of everything he'd gone through, everything he had tried to forget, but hadn't managed to. Of the Pit and turning the knife on other people, of losing Sammy, of having Hell Hound tear into him and drag him into the darkness. "They won't leave me alone."

He jumped slightly when her forehead landed gently against his, a warm pressure against his skin. "Do you want to forget?"

And it was such a tempting offer, such a simple thing to agree to and hope it turned out alright. To simply wipe the slate clean and forget all the crap he'd been put through, all the pain and the tears and the scars left on his soul. "I wish I could." He bit back a sob, the pain evident in his voice. "But I can't."

"Let me do something, then," she offered instead, "let me help you, Dean."

He chuckled, about to ask what she had in mind, but he never got the chance. A warm pair of lips landed against his forehead, the motion so foreign it took him a moment to realize what it was, and he felt heat flood through him. It wasn't a burning, searing heat, the sort he associated with stab wounds and broken bones, but a comforting heat. The kind you got when you downed good bourbon, or curled up in bed on a rainy day. It flooded into his muscles and bones, crackled pleasantly across his skin and made him shiver, danced along his spine and curled softly against his insides. Her hand was still over his heart, and he felt heat flood there too, working through the chambers of the organ before it flooded out into the rest of his system, burning brightly as it went.

He held his tongue until the sensation had faded to a gentle hum in the back of his mind, his skin returning to its usual temperature. "The hell was that?"

"A cleansing." She replied promptly, her voice back to its usual brisk tone. "About time, too…" She tapped a forefinger over his heart. "Ticker had nearly stopped ticking."

"You… Did you just heal me?" He wanted to be perfectly clear about what had just happened before he went and did anything reckless.

"More or less." She shrugged, looking him over. "I can't do anything about your eyes," she mused softly, running a thumb over his cheekbone, "but at least the scars aren't on your skin anymore." She gave him a soft smile before she pulled away. "Call me if you need me, won't you?" Dean heard the key turning in the lock of the hotel room as though it were coming from a mile off. "After all," Ariel breathed out just before the door opened, "you are the one who asked me to stay."

For a fraction of a second, Dean thought he saw her wings as she flew off, the sound somehow more pronounced than before, and then Sam was walking in the door and looking around with a puzzled expression. "Dude, did you have company?" He asked with an arched eyebrow, setting the provisions down onto the table and kicking the door closed.

"Yeah," he replied faintly, "had one of the winged wonders swing by for an update." He shook his head to clear it, and then turned his attention back onto his brother. "So what'd you bring me?"

Sam rolled his eyes, deciding not to pry into whatever moment his big brother had been having, and tossed him a wrapped burger. "Enjoy."

* * *

Castiel was partway across the parking lot of the dingy little motel the brothers were camped out at when a hand caught at the sleeve of his coat, and he instinctively turned towards the being responsible for the action.

Ariel gave him a slight smile, the expression a bit lopsided as she tipped her head to one side, and tugged his sleeve a little harder. "I think they've had enough of our kind for one night, Cas," she nodded off towards the empty car park, "but I have an idea I think you'll like."

He dutifully followed her, letting her hand slip from the corner of his sleeve she'd grabbed to fit her fingers in between his own. She led him clear across the parking lot, and it was only when they started to move across the main road and into the residential area across from them that he thought to ask where it was they were headed.

She pulled up short, as though only just realizing herself that she hadn't explained her plan, and instead of telling him, dragged him on a quick flight through the air. When they stopped, they were perched on top of the water tower about a mile from the motel, the cool night air swirling around them gently as they both tried to find their balance and settle comfortably on the metal structure.

From here, Cas could see the lights of downtown in the distance, and all the land that lay between them and the bustling streets. And if he tipped his head back, he could see the stars stretched out above him in the wide arc of the sky, all glittering like tiny diamonds set into midnight blue velvet. Each with a name and a purpose, and a chemical make-up that defined how brightly they would shine and exactly when they would burn out. It was beautiful.

"I've missed watching the stars." Ariel admitted softly, as though it were some deep secret she'd kept buried. "Missed doing a lot of things I used to do."

"Do you miss Heaven?" Cas' voice was nearly lost in the whispering wind, his tone was so soft, but Ariel still heard him.

"Not as much as I would miss Earth." She replied after a pause, turning her gaze back onto him. "Not as much as I would miss you."

Something warm swam through Castiel's chest at those words, and he felt the corners of his mouth pick up just slightly. "I don't really see what there is to miss with me… I am not the best of our siblings…"

"You were always my favorite, though." She admitted with a sly grin. "And Michael always told me I shouldn't have favorites, because it wasn't fair, but I think he was just jealous."

If they'd been manifested, Castiel thought his wings may have ruffled with pride at that comment. "Why did you take such a liking to me? I am the least of our Father's children…" And although he meant it because he was merely a Messenger with no title, he meant it in a few other ways as well.

"You were… Stunning." She replied, turning her eyes back onto the skyline. "That first time we met, I couldn't stop staring, and that's something, coming from me." She let out a soft giggle at the memory. "And Balthazar looked _traumatized_, because you weren't supposed to talk to us, no one really was, but I didn't mind." He'd forgotten her hand was still entwined with his until she gave it a gentle squeeze. "You had eyes that told stories, Castiel… Eyes that were ready to drink in all the wonders our Father had made and cherish each of them." She grinned then, turning just enough to send him a wink. "And perhaps cherish a few more than most."

Cas imagined that, had Dean been present, he would have blustered through an annoyed string of expletives at that, but the Angel knew well enough by now to simply take the comment in stride. After all, it would be foolish to argue a fact that was so obviously true. "You say that as though it were a problem that needs solving…"

"Hardly." She replied with a shrug. "I just think it's entertaining that of all the people you chose to stick around with, you picked those two." She shook her head as though resigning herself to some terrible truth before she turned back to look at him, her expression suddenly serious. "Which reminds me… I know what you told Dean."

Castiel was about to ask _and what was it I told him_, before he saw the look in her eyes and knew exactly what she was talking about. "I see. I take it you share his view on the subject?"

"If by that you mean I think you're an idiot for threatening to harm yourself, then yes, we're of a like mind." She held onto his hand a little tighter, as though she could squeeze the idea out of his very flesh. "You realize, don't you, that if you decided to do that, I'd bring you right back again."

"The thought had occurred to me, yes." He admitted softly, still uncomfortable under the scrutiny of her gaze.

"Good. Because I don't care how long it takes me, I will put you back together again." Her voice dropped an octave or so, and she ran her thumb over the back of his hand. "I made a diamond out of dust once, Cas, I will be more than willing to do it again."

He smiled at that, giving her hand in his a slight squeeze. "And I appreciate it."

She brightened instantly, releasing his hand in order to lie back with her hands behind her head and look up at the stars. "Right then, time for a game. First one to name thirty stars wins." She grinned at him. "Think you can beat me, little brother?"

He matched her position, his hands instead resting against his stomach, and smiled slightly. "No… But I think I will still try."

* * *

_Admit it... You'd love to lie under the stars with Cas. XD_

_Like I said, I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, but the next will probably come after a bit of a break as well. School starts tomorrow, and I have very strict instructions about paying attention in class and keeping my grades up, but never fear! I shall not abandon you completely!  
_

* * *

_The song "_That's What You Get"_ belongs to: _Paramore


	5. Brick by Boring Brick

_I started this before _8X10 _aired, and after I watched it I couldn't help putting in a reference or two here and there.  
Hope you don't mind~!_

* * *

There had been a few times in Gabriel's existence where he'd been caught off guard by something, but it was a rare happenstance. Rarer still for him to be woken from slumber by said intruder. So it was understandable that he acted first and asked questions later, and only stopped his Holy Blade from skewering the shadowy form in his penthouse because he caught the scent of roses in their wake, and knew who it was even before they turned around.

"Gabe; gotta get me to the Winchesters." She was panting, never a good sign, and one of her hands was clutching at her stomach as though she were about to be sick. "Tell them… Tell them to call Cas, tell them I need you both." Her knees suddenly gave out, and he only just managed to catch her before she collided with the floor. "Tell them she needs protecting."

The Archangel wanted to ask _who_ it was that needed protecting, but he never got the chance. There was a blinding, burning wave of light, and the body in his arms went completely limp, sagging against him as though she'd gone twelve rounds with a freight train. He quickly put his fingers to her neck, finding a weak thrum of a pulse push back against his skin as her chest rose and fell in the shallow breaths of the unconscious. Whatever had just happened, it hadn't been good, and he had no idea how to help his sister other than to do what she'd said.

He snapped up some clothes, doubting that a midnight visit from him while he was wearing his PJs was exactly what the two Hunters had in mind for the evening, and picked up the girl quickly, holding her close as he flew them both to where he could sense the Impala was parked. The runes on their ribs might have hidden _them_ from view, but there wasn't much Dean could do to Angel-proof his car against an inquisitive glance.

The Trickster would have been lying if he said he didn't feel at least a little relieved when he saw the run-down cabin sitting beside the car instead of a motel. It certainly made finding the boys easier if he didn't have to try and track them down through sign-in sheets or simply knocking on doors. He zapped himself inside, nearly dropping the blond in his arms when he landed on something that _squirmed_ out from under his foot with a strangled cry of _Sonofabitch!_

Dean, understandably, didn't take well to being stepped on, and Gabriel was about to complain about the terrible landing pad he made when the Hunter saw what he had cradled against his chest and promptly changed subjects.

"What happened to her?" He asked; eyes narrowed in the dimly-lit cabin as he tried to look at her more closely without actually moving nearer to the man holding her.

"I don't know." Gabriel admitted faintly. "She showed up in my apartment and asked me to bring her here. Said you should call Cassie and tell him that she needs both of us." His mouth twisted off to one side as he gave the limp girl in his arms a disapproving look. "Way to be cryptic, sis."

Sam seemed to have been pulled out of his slumber by the voices, because he sat up and pushed the hair from his eyes as he peered across the room to them. "What's going on?"

"Nothing good." Gabriel replied, carrying his precious cargo over to the bed and gently setting her down. "Budge over, Gigantor, gotta make room for the little lady."

Sam dutifully moved out from under the covers, helping the Archangel lay her out more comfortably before he spoke again. "Dean, you gonna call in Cas, or should I?"

"Nah, I'm on it…" The Elder replied, tearing his eyes away from the girl's slack face to close his eyes and mutter under his breath.

Within seconds Castiel had appeared in an empty corner of the cabin and without saying his customary hello to either brother moved to the bedside and took one of her hands in his. "We have a problem."

"Brilliant, Cassie," Gabe bit out sarcastically, "I was starting to wonder what it was we had. Thank you for clearing that up."

Both Dean and Castiel glared at him, but neither spoke, both more focused on the limp form on the bed and what might have happened to put her in that state. Cas gently put a hand against her forehead, closing his eyes as he stilled his breathing and simply hovered over her for a few moments longer. "Gabriel, this is very serious." He hadn't looked away from her face, but the other three inhabitants of the room could hear the severity of the situation in just his tone.

"Well, Cas," Dean prompted after another moment of uncomfortable silence, "what's the problem?"

"Ariel is no longer inhabiting this vessel." Castiel's voice seemed to physically slap all three of the other men crowding around the bed. "Something has forced her out of Annie, probably a spell." He glanced up then, his gaze shifting between the other three before returning to her slumbering face. "She should be waking up soon. I'm not sure how much she will remember, but I suggest you take it slow."

Sam glanced at Gabriel, who was looking like he should have thought of that, and Dean couldn't seem to take his eyes off the girl on the bed. It took serious mojo to work a spell like that, and usually there was either nothing left of the vessel, or so little that it counted as the same thing. But Annie looked… Well, for lack of a better word, she looked intact. She was breathing evenly, although still a bit too shallowly for Dean's liking, and her body was completely relaxed. There were no bruises or bloodstains that he could see, and that in of itself was a reassuring sign to the Hunter.

Her breathing suddenly deepened, and as she let out a sigh, her eyelids fluttered open. The whole room seemed to hold its breath as her eyes opened fully, and refocused on them, her green gaze flitting from one face to the other before she finally settled on Gabriel. "Do you have any chocolate?" Her voice lacked the usual depth that Dean had been accustomed to, and instead sounded the way it had back when they had first met. "I'm starving."

The Archangel grinned, rummaging in a pocket of his jacket as Cas helped her to sit up against the pillows, and as he handed the candy bar over he offered Dean and Sam a rather smug look. "See? Not a single thing wrong with her."

She managed a faint smile at that as she took the candy bar and tugged the wrapper open. "What have I missed?" She asked as she tipped her head back and chewed slowly, seeming to savor the sweet taste on her tongue.

The gathered boys gave each other rather hesitant glances before Sam took the floor and spoke up. "What, ah, what do you remember last?"

She pointed without opening her eyes, her finger directed towards Cas. "Watching stars with you. You beat Ariel by naming more stars than her first. She was so proud." Cas looked like he might actually blush under the sudden scrutiny of the other three men, but Annie continued before they could comment. "Then… Then it gets fuzzy. She didn't want me to see wherever it was she was headed after that, because I only have snatches of locations." Her eyes squeezed shut tighter as she tried to remember all the locations Ariel had touched down in, the snatches of landscapes slipping away the more she tried to grab them. "I don't know where it was, exactly, but she was with that Demon. The one you all hate so much."

Her collective audience froze for a few seconds before Sam decided he wanted to clarify that particular gem of information, the realm of Demons that they hated being a rather large one. "Crowley, you mean? She went to see Crowley?"

Annie nodded. "Yeah, him. He… Called her, I think. She tried to keep me out of it, but it's not easy for her to multi-task like that." She took another bite of her candy bar before she cracked an eye open and looked at Sam. "Is there any water? My mouth feels like the Sahara."

The younger Hunter nodded and moved away from the bed for a moment while Annie continued to chew, and the other three men continued to think. "Did you catch what Crowley wanted her for?" Dean asked eventually, the question beginning to burn against his tongue from being held back.

"Payback, I think?" She ventured after she'd swallowed her mouthful of chocolate. "He said something about some Demons she'd worked over, and she said it was just good business to get even." She paused, opening her eyes long enough to look up at Sam as he handed her the water. "I think she was talking about that Angel you met… The one who was trying to protect the Prophet…" She unscrewed the top of the water bottle and took a long drink before she continued; her voice softer than before. "Crowley isn't the most courteous captor when it comes to Angelic Beings, apparently…"

Cas sent Gabriel a look, which he returned, and then the Archangel spoke. "Do you know what happened after that? After she went to go see him?"

She shook her head, frowning. "After that, there's nothing. Until now, I mean." She shrugged, sending them an apologetic look, and finished the last of the candy bar. "If it's okay," she spoke again after another long drink of water, "can I take a nap? Ariel took care of my body, but there wasn't a lot of time for sleep."

"Yeah, of course," Sam replied before Dean could demand more answers, "you sleep. We'll be right here if you need us." He gave her a small smile, practically dragging his brother away by the arm so that Annie could rearrange herself under the covers.

"Okay, what the hell?" Dean demanded in a harsh whisper as soon as they heard her breathing deepen and even out.

"I don't know." Cas replied faintly, eyes glued to the floor. "I suppose it is possible that Crowley cast a spell on Ariel, but it seems unlikely that it would have given her enough time to contact Gabriel if that was the case."

Dean shot the blond a look. "Which leads me to my next question. Why'd she go to you?"

"Hello," he responded instantly, indicating himself with a wave of his hand, "Archangel."

Dean frowned, but Sam had to admit that Gabriel had a point. It made sense for Ariel to go to him if she had a problem that needed solving, and even if her instructions were for him to take her to the two Hunters, Sam would agree that going to Gabe first had been a good plan. "I think we're edging around the most important question, though…" He put in after a short pause, glancing around at the other three. "How the hell do we put her back?"

"_Do_ we put her back?" Dean added, folding his arms. "I mean, what if Ariel left of her own accord. Who says Annie wants her to take over her life again?"

"Ariel wouldn't have left without telling us why first." Gabriel snapped at him. "And she told me that Annie needed protecting. Which, I will assume, means she plans to come back to her at some point. And since you asked, bucko, Annie will have a say in the matter. That's how it works."

Dean held up his hands in surrender, shaking his head. "Fine, whatever, let's just figure out what the hell happened, and then we can go from there."

"Agreed." Cas nodded. "If we are to help Ariel we must ascertain what happened to her." He glanced back at the bed and the girl curled up under the covers. "_How_ we find that out, however, seems to be the more difficult problem."

Gabriel's golden eyes slid over to Annie and watched her for a few moments, his expression softening slightly before he let out a huff of a laugh and rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll go. See you suckers in two shakes." He vanished with a ruffling of wings, and Dean looked from the spot he'd recently been occupying back to Cas.

"Where's he headed?" He asked, suddenly curious as to what the Archangel had planned.

"I… Don't know." Cas' head tipped to one side as he stared at the empty space his brother had previously been occupying, as though trying to see a trail that the Archangel had left in his wake. "There are several places he might go to discover what happened. None of them are very pleasant." He looked back at Dean and gave him what passed for an unconcerned expression. "Gabriel knows the risks involved. I'm sure he'll be fine."

Dean, for some reason, sort of doubted that.

* * *

Seeing as an Archangel had landed on top of him in the middle of the night, and then he'd been forced to sleep on a slightly-less-comfortable patch of floor because Sammy had been kicked out of the bed and commandeered his spot before Dean could call dibs (and he didn't care what Cas had said, there was no way that he was sleeping on the couch while it still smelled like stale beer from when the Angel had spooked him badly enough to spill his beverage), he wasn't surprised that his mood was foul the next morning.

His mood merely darkened when he sat up, stretched, and looked up to see the bed empty. "_Dammit_." He hissed, getting up and moving around the room looking for the blond in question. "Sammy, wake up! We've got a missing vessel!"

Sam growled as he pushed himself up onto his elbows, glaring at his big brother. "Cas took her somewhere. Go back to bed."

Dean paused midstride and turned to look at him. "What? Why didn't he wake me up?"

"He did." Sam replied, apparently giving up on the idea of sleep in favor of sitting up and pushing the hair from his eyes. "You told him to shut up and go ahead. I don't think you even really heard what he said." He chuckled, rubbing his eyes. "Annie got a kick out of that."

Dean denied the faint heat in his cheeks that told of a blush, and instead started to change into fresh clothes. He was just pulling on a new over-shirt when the door opened, and Annie walked back in, a towel in one hand and a button down in the other. Her hair was wet, and Dean could see tiny beads of water still on her bare shoulders. "Where'd Cas take you?"

"Back to my old house." She replied, quickly coming the rest of the way in and closing the door behind her. She dabbed at her shoulders and then pulled on the button down, doing up the buttons quickly. "Needed to freshen up." It was as she was tugging the shirt on, over the black undershirt, that Dean saw the tattoo on her left shoulder blade.

"When did you get your ink?" He asked with raised eyebrows, gesturing towards her shoulder when she turned to look at him.

She raised a hand self-consciously to hover over her shoulder, smiling sheepishly. "Right after Ariel asked me… She said it would be better if I waited, because then it wouldn't hurt as much." She shrugged, her hands going back to her sides to slip into her jean's pockets. "She was right. I didn't feel a thing." She seemed to realize Sam was still curled up in what passed for a bed, and a faint sheen of pink rose into her cheeks. "Ah, I'll be outside, if you need me." She nodded to them both a little awkwardly, grabbing her towel and slipping back outside.

Dean watched her go, and then turned to look at Sam. "You good?" He waited for a brief nod from his brother before he followed the blond out the door, giving her a slight smile when she turned to look at him. "Hey, we're gonna look after you while she's away… You know that, right?"

Annie smiled, nodding. "Yeah, I know." She continued to rub at her hair with the towel, trying to get it to dry, and let her gaze play over him.

Dean found the attention a little uncomfortable, and shifted on the spot, hands sliding into his pockets as he tried to think of what to say. He wasn't used to being stared at like that, at least not by girls who didn't work in bars, and he found it a little weird to be scrutinized by a girl he barely even knew this side of. "What was it like? If you don't mind my asking, I mean."

"Oh, no, I don't mind." She offered him a gentle smile. "It was… Odd, at first." She turned to look out over the cabin's scraggly front yard, shrugging slightly. "I caught snatches of life here and there, but mostly… Mostly I dreamed." She smiled slightly. "Ariel knew what I wanted to see, different places and people." She glanced back at Dean. "It wasn't like living a different life; not really, I knew where I was and what was really going on, but at the same time…" She shrugged. "It was nice. And when I was dragged back into consciousness, for whatever reason, it wasn't painful or terrible or anything like that." She smiled, looking back over at him. "It was even better than the dreams, really."

Dean folded his arms, leaning against the side of the building. "Doesn't sound so bad."

"It was weird with Gabriel, though." She admitted softly, as though the Archangel might be able to hear her from wherever he was. "He let me dream more than Ariel did, but his were a bit more…" She trailed off, her cheeks coloring. "In depth, shall we say."

Dean could hold back the grin that spilled onto his lips. "What'd he do, make you a dancer at a club?"

She shook her head, managing a soft giggle. "Candy striper." When Dean's eyebrows shot up his forehead she held up her hands in surrender. "Hey, man, don't look at me. All I know is that I couldn't even _look_ at a lollipop for the next week without wanting to blush." She raked her fingers through her hair, clearly trying to comb it back into order. "But he was nice," she sent Dean a soft smile, "he doesn't really let anyone else see it, but he has a soft side."

Dean snorted softly. "I somehow doubt that." But it was an empty argument and they both knew it. The Hunter may have doubted just how cute and cuddly Gabe was on the inside, but he knew that the Archangel had a soft spot a mile wide when it came to his sister. "So, you don't know what happened to Ariel?" He asked softly, wishing they could get a straight answer about what had happened to the Seraphim.

"Not a clue, unfortunately." She looked down at her shoes, frowning. "It feels weird with her gone… Like, if one of your muscles atrophies, and then you have to get used to using it again. It's like I have to relearn how my body moves, because I've been used to just kicking back and riding shotgun for so long."

"Everything still where it should be?" He asked; genuine concern laced in with his flippant tone. The last thing he wanted was for something bad to happen to her while her Guardian Angel was away.

"Yeah, just a little stiff." She rolled her shoulders, finally deciding she'd done enough damage to her hair and giving up the attempt to get it to look perfect.

Dean watched her for another long moment of silence, taking in the changes to her posture and general air that she gave off. Annie was tiny compared to Ariel, the vessel giving off a shyer vibe than Dean would have expected. She spoke more softly, in a lighter tone of voice, and rarely looked him in the eye, even when addressing him directly. Where Ariel had been able to walk into a room and take control of a situation, Annie was more the type to slip quietly into the back and pretend she didn't exist. "If she comes back, will you let her back in?"

"In a heartbeat." She replied without hesitation, shrugging as she turned to look at him with a shy smile. "Honestly, I really miss having her around."

"She said being her vessel was like being hog-tied to a galaxy." He pointed out. "Doesn't it get a bit cramped?"

She laughed at that, shaking her head. "Yeah, a little, but I'm usually too busy dreaming to realize. It's only when there's something stressful going on, for her or for me, that I remember how uncomfortable sharing the space is." She looked down at her hands, running her right thumb hard against her left palm, as though she were trying to mark a trail against her skin from the pressure. "But… I never had a family, other than my mom, I mean, so the fact that Ariel came back to put hers back together again seems like a worthwhile cause to me." She looked back up at him, and he could see the resolve in her eyes. "So if she needs me for a little while longer, in order to help out her family, then I don't care how cramped it gets, she can run around in my skin for as long as it takes."

Dean probably would have said something, although he wasn't entirely sure what you could say to that, but just then the sound of wings wafted up the steps to him from the yard, and he turned to see Gabriel standing a few feet from him, grinning in a spot of sunshine. His hair was ruffled, and one side of his jacket collar was sticking up at an awkward angle, but otherwise he seemed intact.

"Woo, look at you two!" He exclaimed, bounding up the steps and winking at Annie. "Getting on like a house on fire!" He pulled on a more serious expression, looking between the two of them a moment before he raised his eyebrows at Dean. "Is there something you should be telling me? Because I get it, she's adorable, but that's my sister's vessel you're eyeing, bucko, and I'm not sure how I feel about that." He smirked as soon as Dean glared at him, and quickly switched topics. "Is the Abominable Sam-man up; or do we have to wait around for him before we get this circus on the road?"

Dean rolled his eyes, nearly growling at the Archangel as he turned and headed back into the cabin. "No, Sam should be up by now." He held the door open for Annie, who was waved in first with a flourish by a bowing Gabriel, and led the way back into the cabin, finding Sam already sitting at the table with the laptop open. "So what have you got for us, Gabe?"

The Archangel took a moment to smooth back his hair and fix his collar before replying, a rather smug smirk plastering itself onto his face. "I have an answer for you two yahoos," he replied with a wink, "and luckily for you, people still believe in Loki, even though you managed to blow my cover to practically the entire _Pantheon_ back when Luci iced me." He sent Dean a disapproving look, but continued before the Hunter could reply. "Ariel is in heaven."

"Well great," Sam answered, "we just send you up there and problem solved, right?"

"Unfortunately, Samsquatch, it won't be that easy." Gabriel continued, snapping up a champagne glass of Skittles and popping one into his mouth. "I can't go back up to the city in the clouds."

"Why not?" Dean asked. "You're an Archangel."

"A supposedly _dead_ Archangel," Gabriel reminded him, "which means that if I show up back home again, getting the _Welcome Back_ confetti out of my hair will not be the worst of my problems." He tossed a few more candies into his mouth before he offered the glass to Annie, who shyly took a few, and then looked between the two brothers. "So, anytime you two geniuses find a better way back upstairs, I am all ears."

Dean looked at Sam, who looked back with an equally plaintive expression, and they both sighed in unison.

"Garth?" Sam suggested; an eyebrow quirking upwards.

"Garth." Dean confirmed, pinching the bridge of his nose at the very idea of asking the other Hunter for help. "But I swear; if he mentions the tooth fairy again, I am outta there."

Sam merely grinned.

* * *

Garth looked genuinely surprised to see the Winchesters on his doorstep. He looked even more surprised to see the two angels and the empty vessel standing a few feet away as well. "What did you two idjits do this time?" He asked with a sigh, managing to fix both boys with a disapproving look at the same time.

"We lost a Seraphim." Sam answered simply. "To be more specific, we lost her, found her, and now need a way to bring her back from heaven."

Garth blinked a few times in quick succession, processing that before he shook his head and opened the door open wider. "Well, come on in, don't mind the books." He looked back at the other three stragglers at the bottom of the porch steps, and motioned them closer. "You too, might as well have the whole gang in one place."

Annie sent him an apologetic smile as she slipped past, looking about curiously as she followed Sam and Dean further into the house. "I was under the impression," Cas spoke as he followed Garth into the house and closed the door behind them, "that you were staying on your boat with the Prophet."

"Kid said he needed some space," Garth answered with a shrug, "figured I'd give it to him. Besides, he knows how to get in touch if he needs me." He plopped himself down in a wide leather chair behind the crowded desk, motioning for the rest of them to take seats as well. "So, what's this angelic problem you need my help with?"

"She," Gabriel indicated Annie; "is a vessel. Something tore what was living in her out, and we'd like it back." He plopped down on one side of the sofa, and Annie perched carefully next to him.

"As we understand it, she's back in heaven now." The blond continued once she was seated comfortably. "The boys thought maybe you could help us find a way to bring her back…" Her tone was hopeful, even though she looked doubtful about the whole idea. "If there's some spell, or ritual, maybe?"

Garth let out a long breath and rubbed the back of his neck. "A few come to mind, summoning rituals that have been a bit altered, but they aren't real easy…"

"We will do whatever is required." Castiel spoke from his post by the doorway, his expression drawn. "So please, tell us what these rituals might entail."

"Blood, mostly," Garth shrugged uncomfortably, opening one of the drawers on his desk and rummaging through it, "a few other things that slip my mind. But there is one thing I know we need for sure." He paused, glancing between all five of them before his gaze settled on Annie. "An empty vessel."

If Cas' posture could have stiffened even more, Dean was sure it would have. "Define 'empty', Garth." The Hunter grumbled, glaring at the lanky man behind the desk.

"He means soulless." Gabriel explained softly. "He means we need to remove Annie's soul without injuring her body."

Garth nodded slowly, looking uncomfortable, and pulled a rather battered looking leather book from the drawer, closing it before he put the book on the desk and began to flip through it. "The ritual not only brings her back, it'll seal her in. She won't go for any more trips upstairs without warning."

"Okay, so how do we ditch my soul?" The question earned the girl a collection of odd looks, but she ignored all of them in favor of continuing to look at Garth. "Do we just have someone tug it out, or do I have to actually snuff it?"

"Annie!" Dean's voice came out harsher than he had intended, but he decided it was probably due to the stress of the situation, and he was entitled to react this strongly. "No one is snuffing it today. And there's no way we're gonna rip out your _soul_." He still had memories of that God-awful experience that Sam had put him through, and thanks very much, he did _not_ want to have to relive that nightmare again.

Sam seemed to be of the same mind, because he offered her a gentle smile from the other side of the room. "We'll figure something else out."

"Why?" She looked genuinely confused as she glanced between the two of them. "We have a plan now, why come up with another that might not work."

"Because _this_ _one_ doesn't work!" Dean argued. "Why are you so ready to kick your soul out, Annie? That's not okay!"

"Why are you so ready not to?" She countered. "It's my soul, Dean, I can do what I like with it." He stared at her, effectively silenced by the outburst. Gone was the shy girl from before, and in her place was a feisty side that the Hunter hadn't even known existed. "So, as I was saying," she continued in a softer tone of voice, returning her gaze to their host, "how do we ditch my soul?"

Gabriel was looking at her the way he had the night before when she'd been sleeping, his eyes soft around the corners and his smile so much softer than usual. "I could take care of that for you, kiddo," he offered softly, "I promise I'll be gentle."

Annie smiled at him, nodding. "Would that work, Garth? We have to do this without hurting my body, right? So Gabriel could take out my soul and the ritual would still work, right?"

"Yeah, it should…" Garth muttered, trying to ignore the glare Dean was sending his way. "As long as you're okay with that."

"Anything for Ariel." The blond replied instantly, standing up and looking expectantly at the Archangel. "So, are you gonna do this here, or should we go somewhere a little more private?"

Gabe waggled his eyebrows at her and stood, bowing with a grand sweep of his hand. "After you, madam!" He motioned for Cas to follow them as they moved down the hall and followed Garth's directions into the other room.

"You cannot be serious!" Dean hissed to Garth, moving to tower over the other Hunter. "We can't just yank someone's soul out and hope the ritual goes okay!"

"The ritual will work, Dean," Garth snapped back, "so have a little faith, and let's get this show on the road!" He stood and slammed his hands onto the desk, trying to make his scarecrow frame look imposing in the face of the Wall-of-Winchester that was Dean.

"Fine." He breathed. "But if this goes south, and I mean even a _little_, I will personally make your life a living hell." He stiffened when he heard the muffled screams from the other room, and knew exactly what Gabriel was doing. "So, what do we need to make this work?"

Garth looked more comfortable now that he had a task at hand to focus on, and he relaxed, looking at the page of the book he'd turned to. "A whole lotta stuff. Some of it I have, some of it I don't even know where to start looking."

"I believe I can help with that." Cas spoke from the doorway, pushing his sleeve back down and looking like he could do with a distraction. "Gabriel requested that I be your "_Delivery Boy_"," he included the air quotes, this time appropriately, "so, tell me what you need, and I'll go get it for you."

Garth quickly started to make a list while Cas hovered in the doorway and Sam slinked off to go see if he could help keep an eye on Annie. As soon as the list was completed and handed over, and Cas had taken off to find the items contained therein, Garth sat back down in his chair and got to rummaging through another drawer. "While he's off getting that, I need your help getting everything else finished off."

"What else do you need?" Dean asked, eyeing him dubiously.

Garth straightened and handed him a stick of chalk, grinning broadly. "A nice big target for your Seraphim to aim at."

* * *

It was… _weird_ to see Annie being carried out of the other room in Cas' arms, her body limp as he gently laid it out in the middle of the largest rune that Garth had drawn onto his living room floor. It was weirder still to see the bright, flickering light of her soul being deposited gently into a jar that he snapped up specifically for the purpose. It was covered in runes that had been etched into the surface (which Dean would have been willing to bet was made from crystal, not glass), and stoppered with something that the Hunter honestly did not want to know the origin of.

Sam looked genuinely _pained_ to see Gabriel stash Annie's soul in the jar, watching it go like it was their last hope, and sat quietly in the corner while the other four started to get everything ready for the ritual. There was salt to lay out in lines over the runes and incantations to be recited while blood was spilled into a bowl by the two Angels and Dean himself, there were sigils to be drawn on Annie's forehead and hands _with the blood_, and more incantations that had to be recited in different parts by the different members of the group.

All-in-all, it was complicated and confusing, and Dean was very glad he wasn't the one in charge of the situation.

Garth finally took a few steps back, looking at his handiwork and nodding his approval. "Few steps back, boys," he waved them off towards the doors, "I'll call you back in when she gets here."

They all looked a bit hesitant to leave, but Gabriel rolled his eyes and dragged Sam out by the elbow, and Cas gently shepherded Dean out with looks and half-aborted gestures, and when they were all finally out, Dean didn't feel any better about it. He couldn't get rid of the image of Garth painting sigils across her skin in _his blood_, while she laid there limp and empty, and he'd say even Purgatory didn't have much over on that experience.

He paced back and forth across the front porch of the house, earning him glares from both Sam and the midget who was standing beside him, but he ignored them both in favor of glaring the peeling wooden boards beneath his feet into submission and trying to ignore the mumbled chanting that was floating out to him from inside. He didn't want to have to think about what might happen if this didn't work, what Annie would end up becoming if Gabriel couldn't shove her soul back, what that would mean for all of them, not just the Hunters. Ariel had been there to protect all of them, not just the two humans, and Dean knew not having their sister around would seriously affect the two Angels.

He froze when he heard the chanting stop, and looked up through the screen door in time to see light flood the room. He didn't stop to think about what he was doing before he did it, instinct taking over his brain before reason had a chance to, and he practically kicked the door open in his hurry to get inside and see what had happened.

Garth looked surprised, as though he hadn't been expecting this to actually work, and Annie's eyes were open wide, her head tipped back and her mouth hanging open in a gasp that was filling her lungs with air. Dean landed on his knees next to her, waiting for a sign that this was the girl they'd been trying to get back, and not some strange hybrid between the three possibilities.

"Gettin' worried about me, are you kiddo?" She managed after a moment, her eyes refocusing up on the Hunter's face. "Didn't know you were so attached."

"Just wanted to make sure I didn't have to find myself another Guardian." He grinned, trying to play off his concern as no big deal. "I mean come on, that'd be a massive pain in my ass. 'Sides, what'd Gabe do without you to keep him in line?" He winked, offering her a hand and pulling her up into a sitting position, relief flooding through him as he continued to watch her readjust to being in a meat suit. "That'd just be a _nightmare_."

She laughed, rubbing at her head and closing her eyes. "_Dad_, what'd you do to me? It feels really…" She froze as her brothers slowly moved back into the room, Gabriel looking far too guilty for his own good. "_Empty._" She finished her sentence, glaring at Gabriel. "What did you boys do to me? Where's Annie?"

"Part of the ritual…" Sam managed to get out, looking somewhere between terrified about her possible reaction to the news and relieved over her return. "Had to have a soulless vessel to bring you back to."

Ariel was on her feet and halfway across the room before Dean could do more than blink, and she was snatching the etched jar from her brother with wide eyes as she stared at the flickering glow inside. "No, no, no, what have you _done_, Annie?"

"She wanted to say thank you," Gabriel practically whispered, "to you and all of us. She wanted this, Sis, it was her idea to go ahead with it in the first place."

Ariel handed the jar back gently, having a wordless conversation with her brother via looks and tiny inclinations of her head, and when the Archangel had vanished from the room, she turned to look at the rest of them. "How long was I gone?" She asked the room at large.

"Only a day or so." Dean answered. "Other than being a little… Roomier," he gestured at her, "how do you feel?"

"Fine." She looked down at herself, flexing her hands and wiggling her fingers experimentally. "Just… A little lonely." She shrugged, turning to look at them. "How'd you hold up without me?"

Cas looked like he wanted to say something, probably something that would get him mocked by at least two of the Hunters in the room, but he refrained, and Sam answered her instead. "Alright, I guess."

"How was heaven?" Garth asked, earning him a collection of glares that he merely shrugged off. "What, I wanna know what dragged her back there against her will!"

"A spell sent me back." Ariel replied. "And apparently one brought me back downstairs too…" She trailed off, looking pensive. "Heaven was…" She tipped her head to one side and managed a faint smile. "Different than I remember it."

Gabriel reappeared beside her and sighed dramatically. "Oh, come on sourpusses! Big sis is back! Let's go celebrate." He snapped his fingers, and they suddenly found themselves in a club Dean had very serious doubts about.

"Really, Gabe?" Sam asked, giving him a disapproving look. "This is how you decide to celebrate?"

He gave the taller man an exasperated look, rolling his eyes a moments later. "Lighten up, Moosechester; you should live a little every once in a while!" He motioned after Dean (who was dragging a very reluctant looking Cas towards the bar), and grinned. "Your brother is."

Sam sighed deeply and followed after the tan trench coat being swallowed by the crowd, deciding he should probably try to save the Angel before Dean put his Grace in any more jeopardy than it probably already was.

Ariel looked ready to follow them, but Gabriel gently grabbed her elbow and led her away from the rest of the crowd, directing them both through the back door of the club and out into the rather dingy alleyway that lay behind it. "Okay, spill." He folded his arms across his chest and gave her a pointed look. "What the hell happened back there? And if you say "_just some spell_", so help me I will snap you into a dreamland the likes of which you have never seen before!"

Ariel sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I got sloppy. Stupid, I know, but there you go. I let Crowley put a spell on me, and I didn't try to get rid of it because…" She trailed off into a shrug. "I wanted to know what home had turned into."

Gabe's face fell, his head tipping just slightly to one side. "Sweetie…"

"Oh, zip it, kiddo." She snapped back coolly. "Stupidity killed the cat, curiosity was framed, you know that." She smiled gently. "So relax, I'm not going to get all melancholy and melodramatic on you because I had a bad day back home." She winked at him. "So can we get back inside before Dean decides to deflower our little bro any more completely, and maybe have a little fun?"

Gabriel laughed at that, a real honest-to-God laugh that made his shoulders shake and his head tip back. "Fine, fine, let's go save Cassie's virtue from the villainous Dean Winchester." He slipped an arm around her waist and led her back to the door, opening it for her before he guided her through. "But you have to make me a promise, sis."

"Anything, kiddo." She promised with a grin as they slipped back into the buzzing club.

"Don't go flying off again without warning, okay?" He asked. "I don't like having to track your cute ass down every other day."

Ariel laughed at that, nodding. "Sir, yes sir!"

Gabe let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, and led her back through the gyrating crowd to where the rest of their troupe was waiting by the bar. Dean had already downed a few shots, and Cas was looking like he might just join the elder Hunter. Sam was seated in a corner, fending off any and all advances that were directed his way, and Garth was looking like he wanted to question Cas about anything and everything, but was holding his tongue. Dean motioned Ariel over, apparently attempting to get her to talk Cas into trying whatever it was the Hunter was drinking, and Gabe went to sit next to Sam and glare anyone who came too close in submission.

Ariel was laughing, and Gabe sat and watched her talk with the Hunter and Angel, enjoying seeing her interact with the two of them. He didn't want to have to threaten any other Gods into submission just to locate her again, and really, he would burn this whole marble to ashes to save his sister.

And the whole world knew it, too.

"Happy to have her back?" Sam asked conversationally, taking another swig of his beer and watching his brother from across the bar.

"Thrilled to bits, Samsquatch." He replied with a nod. "Obviously."

"She worth it?" His tone indicated he already knew the answer, but wanted to be sure all the same. He watched the Archangel closely, probably waiting for the thunder and lighting and wrath to rain down on his head from even _suggesting_ such a thing.

"She's always worth it, kiddo," Gabriel replied with a faint grin, "don't know what she sees in me, of course, but I know why I rescue her."

Sam chuckled at that, nodding. "And why's that?"

Honey eyes met soft green across the bar, and the two shared a look that spoke volumes of silent promises that spanned eons of time spent apart and together. "Because she thought I was worth rescuing in the first place." He turned to look back at Sam, a grin tugging at the corners of his lips. "Sides, she's family, Sammy, and we gotta look out for our own."

Sam grinned, ignoring the use of the nickname in favor of giving the Archangel a genuinely pleased expression, and nodded. "I hear you there."

"Although, ya know," he drawled on with a smirk, "I _do _draw the line and hawking my soul to save my lil bro…" He waved dismissively, chuckling as Sam elbowed him in the ribs and rolled his eyes.

"Shut-up, you know you'd smite this whole freakin' planet to be sure she was brought back safe." The Hunter replied in an undertone.

"Damn right I would." Gabe replied without any hesitation. "And she'd be worth it." He nodded once, the motion containing enough finality to put the conversation to rest, and snapped up a drink Sam had a sneaking suspicion contained more sugar than alcohol.

The Hunter grinned and took another drink from the dark brown bottle in his hand, watching the way his brother reacted from the other side of the bar. He was more animated, as though there wasn't anything weighing on him anymore, and if that was what having Ariel around did for him, Sam was more than ready to take a step back and let her come into her own a little more.

His brother was worth letting one more person into their lives, and if that person was Ariel, well… Sam sure as hell wasn't complaining.

* * *

_See? Toldja I wouldn't just abandon you because of school~!_

* * *

_The song "_Brick by Boring Brick_" belongs to: _Paramore


	6. Emergency

**_Warning:_**_This chapter contains copious amounts of crack and is not recommended for anyone who is prone to nosebleeds, heart attacks, or fits of chronic laughter. You have been warned. Any mental or physical injury that occurs from reading this chapter is not the responsibility of the author.  
Please read responsibly._

* * *

"Dean, this is not a good idea." Cas' voice was low as he leaned forward from the back seat and peered through the windshield up at the derelict mill. Sam had already slipped from the passenger's seat and was moving around to the far side of the building while Dean and Cas waited in the car.

"Well, Cas, it's the only plan we've got." The Hunter replied shortly. "So it's the one we're going with."

Cas shifted uncomfortably, obviously displeased about not being able to see past the sigils inside the old building. "I understand, but I still think it would be better to wait."

"We can't wait anymore, Cas, the Demons are killing people and we need to put a stop to it before they wipe out the whole town!"

Cas' sigh was signature in its long-suffering tone as he sat back in his seat, his expression looking pinched even in the dim light from the one street lamp a few feet behind them. "I see."

Dean glared at the Angel in the rearview mirror, but kept his mouth shut, deciding that now was not the time to argue with a huffy Angel of the Lord.

It had been a good lead, the boys both thought when they heard about the rash of Demon attacks that had plagued a small town in Nebraska, and since they had nothing else to do (and Garth was hounding them about how they were only _two hours away_, and that was more than enough reason to go check it out), they went ahead and hunted down the lead.

It had taken them to an old run-down mill that Sam could _smell_ the sketch on a mile off, but went to check out anyway, despite the doubts he had about it. As it turned out, the churning doubt in his stomach had been the voice of reason screaming at him to head the other way, because, knowing their luck, this was going to turn out to be a trap.

He decided, however, that maybe just this once he could trust the universe to cut them a break, because really, they did sort of deserve it after all the other crap they'd been put through recently.

Sam still refused to look at the little etched jar now sitting carefully tucked to one side in the trunk of the Impala, and he noticed that Dean actually struggled to touch it, even when it was in the way of whatever his elder brother was trying to get at. That, if nothing else, spoke volumes to Sam about how much the universe owed them at least one tiny little break.

He knew before he even started to scout out the mill, however, that they weren't going to get it. But that didn't stop him from having a little sliver of hope that this time things would be different, and daring the universe to prove him wrong.

Which it did, about thirty seconds later when Sam kicked the back door in and found himself facing a completely empty factory floor, facing his brother and Cas on the other side. He froze for approximately three seconds too long, and it wasn't until the rushing, howling scream filled his ears that he noticed the rune that literally covered the entirety of the mill floor.

Sam didn't even want to think about how much blood it had taken to draw that, the thick crimson lines laying nearly a full foot across, and could only stand and stare as the rune began to glow and hum in a way that made Sam's stomach do Olympic-level gymnastic moves.

And then he couldn't think at all, as darkness overtook his vision, and he remembered seeing Dean looking horrified and Cas looking surprised, and then he couldn't remember anything. And then the trap Sam had somehow known was coming had been sprung, and he decided he was going to murder Dean if they ever made it out of this alive.

Which, from where he was currently standing, was a fairly big "_if_".

* * *

It wasn't until much later that Sam realized anything was really wrong.

He'd woken up to the sight of one battered, wooden wall and wondered what all the fuss had been about the night before if the spell had done nothing but knock them out. So he stood, carefully, anxious to see if his brother and their little nerd angel had made it out of this as seemingly unscathed as he was.

His whole body seemed to weigh a ton, and his balance was a bit off kilter, but otherwise he felt fairly okay. As okay as anyone was going to feel after walking into a mill and activating a trap the size of the _Death Star_.

He didn't really start to panic until he looked out over the mill's interior and realized that he couldn't see Dean or Cas, and that meant something was really wrong, because they wouldn't have left without him.

He called out for his brother, but the sound that left his mouth was not the one he'd been expecting.

And then he looked down at himself, and felt the pieces slide into place with sickening speed and clarity.

The universe, it seemed, had a worse sense of justice than Sam had ever given it credit for.

It had taken an hour for the Archangel to show up at the mill after Sam had curled up and started praying as hard as he could for Gabriel to get his feathery ass down here and help fix the situation. A further fifteen minutes were needed for Gabe to get over the giggling fit that had struck not two seconds after he'd seen Sam lying on the mill floor with his brother sitting next to him, and Cas perched not far away.

Sam, of course, failed to see the humor in the situation.

The Archangel had been so overcome with a case of the silly-giggles, tears streaming down his face and chest heaving with unneeded gasps for breath, that he had to call in his big sister.

If Sam could have still blushed, he was pretty sure he would have the moment the Seraphim showed up and took stock of the situation.

Ariel was looking at them with a mixture of amusement and sympathy in her eyes, and Dean didn't like it. Although, admittedly, he couldn't really blame her for the way her eyebrows were raised and her mouth was trying not to quirk up at the corners. Her green gaze kept switching between him and his not-so-little brother, and her lips kept twitching, and finally she let out a huff of a laugh and closed her eyes with a shake of her head. "Sometimes I wonder how you two boys manage to get yourselves into all this trouble."

Sam shifted uncomfortably where he lay, and even Cas looked a little remorseful as he shifted a little on his perch, his head bowing in what Dean could only imagine was chagrin. Dean, on the other hand, held his ground and held Ariel's gaze as she looked back at him.

"Honestly," she teased with a slight grin, "what am I supposed to do with all of you?"

Gabriel, who was sitting on the couch he'd snapped into existence with his feet propped up and a smug smirk plastered on his face, piped up for them. "Laugh hysterically at their current predicament? That's what I'd do, sis."

Dean snapped, whipping his head around to glare at the Archangel and hissing out _bite me_… But that wasn't what the archangel heard. What the grinning Trickster heard was a bout of angry, high-pitched chattering that slipped from Dean's mouth before he could remember that, _dammit_, his vocal chords were no longer wired to speak English.

Ariel's gaze bordered on fond as she looked at him, and he wanted nothing more than to swear. And down at least half a bottle of whiskey in order to forget that this whole fiasco had ever even happened.

"Okay, okay, Sam I get," she said after a pause, motioning to the younger Winchester's hulking frame, "but what's the story with you two?" She shifted her gaze from Cas to Dean and then back again, cocking her head to one side as Cas let out a mumbled _something_ that apparently both his siblings could understand.

Dean was going to give Gabriel hell later over the fact that the Archangel spoke _bird_.

The little sparrow that was Cas (Dean could not stop laughing internally over the fact that his wing and back feathers were the _exact_ shade of his trench coat), flitted from his perch on the boarded-up window sill and landed gracefully on Ariel's shoulder, continuing his rapid song in order to communicate whatever message it was that he had for her.

Dean refused to acknowledge the sensation climbing up his spine as jealousy, because that was just silly. It made sense for Cas to be able to communicate with his sister, no matter what form he took. There wasn't a rule that said Angels had to speak every animal language, or anything… Besides, he reasoned, who in their right mind would want to speak _squirrel_?

"Don't dis the squirrels, kiddo," Gabriel spoke up without even looking over at him, "they may seem like nothing more than tree-rats, but _damn_ do they have a sense of humor."

It took Dean all of maybe six seconds to realize he'd been mumbling under his breath, and yeah, Gabe could speak squirrel. The Hunter was going to give him hell over that one too, when he finally got back into his usual shape and size.

Sam let out what could almost pass as a snort of laughter, and shook his head at the Archangel. Of the three of them, Sam had taken his sudden animal impersonation with much more grace than Dean or Cas (although the Angel had instantly started winging his way around the inside of the mill with what Dean was going to pretend had _not_ sounded like happy chirps of pure glee). The nickname Crowley had once given the younger Winchester had never suited him more, and Dean would be lying if he said that the antlers didn't make him just a little jealous.

Then again, he was the one currently stuck with a hyperactive tail that wouldn't hold still for longer than six seconds and no idea how to fix whatever scrape they'd managed to get themselves into this time.

"So he just dumped you in animal skins for the giggles? Cas, come on, that's not how it works." Gabriel rebuked his younger brother gently, rolling his eyes. "It would have taken weeks for him to set this little job up, maybe even longer if witches were in short supply. Crowley didn't just sit down to breakfast one morning and think "_oh, I do believe I'll pull a prank on those two Winchester boys, won't that be a lark?_", and don't give me that look, Cas, you're not a lark. You're a sparrow."

Cas' glare bordered on malevolent, and Dean was very glad he wasn't on the receiving end of it this time around. Ariel stroked a finger along Castiel's back and his feathers ruffled slightly, a soft warble slipping out before he could stop it. He quickly shook himself, flattened his feathers out, and then started to preen himself, looking quite uncomfortably for a moment. There Seraphim, upon whom he was perched, giggled softly before she looked between the three of them, shaking her head. "I'm actually familiar with the spell, I've seen it before a few times, but there's just one problem." She frowned, inspecting Sam's now even more hulking frame more closely. "It can't be broken."

Dean stared at her, dumbstruck. This was the girl that had reassembled an _Archangel_ from nothing more than stardust and charred prayers, how could one measly little spell stump her?

She seemed to understand what he was thinking even without him having to say it out loud, and her frown deepened. "It's a very complex bit of magic. It takes at least two casters, maybe more for one this size, and more blood than I care to say… It's meant to slowly wear off, being a punishing spell and all, but this one's different." She sighed. "It's meant to be permanent."

Gabriel chortled gleefully before he spoke. "But take heart, dear creatures, there is a counter curse." He stood, dusting imaginary molecules from his person before he moved over to his sister and smiled disarmingly at them. "But it'll take a little while to get all the proper ingredients together. Hope you boys don't mind a slight delay in the proceedings."

Dean huffed, annoyed over the delay, but otherwise kept his mouth shut. There was only so much one squirrel could do, after all.

As it turned out, being a squirrel wasn't so bad once he got used to it. He could curl up in small, dark corners and sleep for hours at a time (a miracle in and of itself), fit into Ariel's coat pocket when he felt he should listen in on one of the conversations she had with her sketchy contacts during the week they spent hunting down ingredients, and, most importantly, he could still taste apple pie when it was presented to him. The only real downside (aside from being unable to do more than hop about furiously when a baddie got too close and getting teased mercilessly by Gabriel) was his bushy, hyperactive tail.

Cas acted like his feathery form was completely normal, like he did this all the time (and if he _did_ do it all the time, it certainly explained a lot), and merely looked at Dean disapprovingly when the Hunter-turned-tree-rat swore under his breath. Apparently a change in species hadn't affected Cas' gift of tongues.

Sam, although now considerably more bulky, seemed to have decided that throwing a fit over the whole thing would be time-consuming and completely counter-productive, and therefore resigned himself to sitting quietly in the corner while Gabriel and Ariel popped in and out and gathered more things for the spell.

Gabriel hadn't been joking when he said it would take a while to get the things for the counter curse together. Jars of herb and other things Dean didn't like to think about were scattered over the warehouse floor, the pile slowly but steadily growing. When Ariel came back with a paintbrush made of what appeared to be bone and human hair, Dean decided he should stop being so curious about what the spell entailed. Instead, he followed his brother's example and perched in the corner… On one of Sam's recently acquired antlers. The younger Winchester merely rolled his big hazel eyes and didn't complain.

_Much_.

* * *

"Alright, Moosechester, you're first." Gabriel was holding a bowl full to the brim with thick crimson liquid and Dean promptly decided he didn't want to know. Instead he merely sat back and watched as the Archangel started painting sigils into Sam's dark fur, chanting softly under his breath as he went. Over his shoulder, Dean could see Ariel doing the same to Cas, the feathers refusing to hold the blood half the time, causing Ariel to have to start all over again. "Oi, Rocky," Gabriel's voice made the elder Hunter turn to look at him, "you're next."

The blood _burned_ as it trailed from the brush onto his fur, like Gabriel was painting him with magma; and Dean only just held in a noise at the sensation. He held his ground, however, determined not to make any protestations when Sammy had been able to stay silent through the whole ordeal- and there was more of him to paint. Eventually, _finally_, Gabriel finished and took a step back to examine his handiwork. Dean felt sticky, the blood not drying _nearly_ fast enough for his liking; and refrained from making any sort of movement aside from leaping off Sam and onto the ground- the last thing he wanted to do was turn back and find himself sitting on Sam's head.

"You all good over there, sugar?" Gabe asked of his sister, turning to look at her. "Or do you and Mr. Tweetums need another minute?"

"I'm ready." She replied, finally putting the finishing touches on Cas' sigils. "You want to start, or shall I?"

Gabriel began chanting softly under his breath, the smirk he'd been wearing giving way to a more serious expression. A few words in, Ariel joined him, their voices overlapping perfectly as they continued the spell. The sigils began to glow, writhing with light as the incantation continued. Dean felt the markings grow hot again, searing into his skin and making him grind his teeth together to keep a scream in. His eyes squeezed shut, his vision whiting out as the pain slowly started to ebb, and his ears began to ring. He collided into the wall of the warehouse and then the floor, consciousness slowly leaving him.

When his eyes finally opened, the light from above instantly giving him a migraine, he was looking up into concerned green eyes. "Dean? You with me?" She glanced down at his neck and he felt her fingers press against his pulse.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm here… Cas and Sammy make it through okay?"

Over her shoulder he could just make out a tan-clad shoulder that stiffened slightly at the sound of his voice. "Yeah," Ariel smiled at him, "yeah, everyone's fine, Dean." She offered him her hand, helping him up into a sitting position.

Dean groaned, rubbing a hand over his face and closing his eyes against the pounding in his skill. "Remind me to punch Crowley in the face next time I see him as a personal _thank you_." He grumbled, trying to ignore how her fingers raked through his hair and made his migraine melt away. "Thanks, by the way, for changing us back."

"Don't thank me just yet," Ariel murmured, "we've still got a ways to go."

Dean was about to ask what she meant, pulling his hand away from his face and opening his eyes, but then he saw the _thing_ beside him and stopped, his entire brain short-circuiting at the sight. He had a tail. He _still _had a tail. A busy, hyperactive, _squirrel_ tail. "The _hell_…?"

Ariel winced. "Yeah, like I said, we've got a ways to go." She glared at his tail, as though she could simply _will_ it away. "I don't know what went wrong with you two, Cas came out unscathed…" She glanced over her shoulder to where her brothers were standing, and when Dean looked that way too, he caught sight of Sam. The younger Winchester was perched uncomfortably on the edge of the sofa, two tiny antler nubs poking up through his hair.

Dean gaped. "Gabriel, you sonofabitch, what did you _do_ to us?!" He demanded, glaring at the Archangel.

Ariel laid her hand on his shoulder (in a location he was all too familiar with a _different_ celestial being touching him), and gave him a stern look. "Dean, _relax_. Gabe didn't do anything. Something went wrong with the spell, that's all." She sighed softly. "We're trying to figure out what precisely that was."

"I still think you should go talk to that darling little devil of yours." Gabriel muttered, looking as though he'd been personally insulted by the spell. "He must have had a hand in this."

"Perhaps." Ariel helped Dean to his feet, the Hunter still a bit too stunned to do much more than stare openly at Sam's horns or his own bushy tail. "But I somehow doubt that."

Dean sank onto the couch beside Sam, eyeing his brother curiously, and then finally managed to switch his gaze onto Cas. "How did you get out of all this without wings or a beak or something?" He asked, unable to keep the annoyance out of his voice. "Or is it just because you have some freaky, anti-magic, angelic mojo?"

Castiel gave him an unimpressed look, but answered the question all the same, apparently unfazed by Dean's reaction. "The spell was intended for human victims… Being a different entity entirely, I was not as susceptible to the spell's effect." He frowned slightly. "I do not know what possessed someone to go through all the trouble of creating this spell if they knew it would not work as well on me."

Dean looked expectantly at the Seraphim. "Well? You gonna call him, or should I?"

Ariel rolled her eyes and sighed. "You call Garth, I've got Crowley covered."

Dean reached into his pocket to fish out his phone, and Gabriel walked with his sister to the warehouse door, frowning the whole way. "You know this is a bad idea, Ariel, you nearly got shredded last time you went to see him… What's to stop him from doing it again?"

"Relax, kiddo, I got this. You keep an eye on Rocky and Bullwinkle and let me know if anything happens, okay?" She gave him her most reassuring smile, but he caught the hesitation in her eyes. "Later, Alligator."

"Forget it, Crocodile; I'm not letting you out of my sight." Gabriel folded his arms, playing the _petulant child _card and not caring how immature it made him seem. "Let Cassie play bodyguard and baby-sitter for a little while… I'm not letting you head into a trap without a little back-up, okay?" He frowned as sternly as he could when faced with the wide-eyed surprise of his big sister, and continued to keep his posture rigid. "If you go down this time, I'm going down with you. Like hell I'm letting you die alone."

"I'm not going to die, Gabriel," she argued as she made for the door, "so quit being so dramatic." She slipped through, not closing it all the way behind her, and Gabriel recognized the invitation for what it was.

He grinned, calling over his shoulder for Castiel to hold down the fort while they were gone, and then followed his sister out into the gathering dark. "You might not die, today or ever," he whispered to her as they finally got out of earshot of the boys inside the building, "but you bleed just as badly as the rest of us. And I, for one, refuse to sit by and simply watch it happen." He threw an arm around her shoulders and smiled brightly. "So you're stuck with me."

She laughed at that, leaning into him just a little. "I think I can live with that. Despite popular belief, you aren't _that_ bad to have around."

He put his free hand over his heart. "I should certainly hope not!" And then he snapped, sending them both hurtling towards Crowley, and whatever the demon had planned for them.

* * *

"Could you _not_ stare?" Dean asked as he ran a hand over his face and glared at the spindly little Hunter across the room from him. "Seriously, Garth, just figure out what the hell is going on."

"That's just it, Dean. I don't know." He shrugged, glancing from the two brothers on the couch to the book in his hands and then back again. "This sort of spell is meant to be permanent, but whatever counter-spell Ariel and Gabriel pulled off seems to have interfered with it enough to keep it in the non-permanent zone, but still really potent."

"And in English?" Dean asked, rubbing his eyes. He was tired, he was sore, and he was completely stone-cold sober. He wanted to be basically _anywhere_ but in this damn warehouse right now.

"It'll wear off, but you're stuck like this till then." Garth managed, shrugging.

"Awesome." The elder Hunter grumbled, leaning back and putting both hands over his face. Maybe if he wished hard enough, the ground would swallow him whole.

Sam sighed beside him and ran a hand through his hair, trying to figure out exactly what they were going to do with themselves in the meantime. It wasn't like they could _hunt_ like this, it would be way more trouble than it was worth. And besides, what monster would be able to take Dean seriously with that tail, anyway?

The warehouse door swung open, revealing the two celestial beings that had left over an hour previously. Ariel was rubbing what looked like black oil from her hands, and Gabriel was munching on a candy bar like there was nothing to worry about, so Sam naturally assumed there _was_. "How'd it go?" He asked, looking them both over for some sort of indication of what had happened.

"What's that word?" Gabriel asked, tipping his head to one side as he took his time drawing out the suspense. "Spectaculacular? Is that it?"

Ariel laughed softly, closing the door behind them and digging in her pocket for a moment before she pulled out two necklaces, throwing them to the boys. "Here, put these on. They'll act like glamour, keeping your, ah, _features_, hidden. It's not permanent, the spell, I mean, so it should wear off in a week or two. In the meantime, you have those beauties."

Dean inspected the charm that dangled from the plain black leather. It was a tiny little etched glass jar, filled to the brim with something black and oily looking. "Do I want to know what I'm wearing around my neck?"

Sam, who apparently knew better than to ask even _that_, had already slipped his on. With a slight flicker, like when a light first flipped on in a seedy hotel room, the horns vanished completely, leaving him looking the way he usually did. "Did it work?" He asked.

Gabriel grinned. "You're back to your usual Samsquatchian self." He declared with a nod. "And no, Dean, you don't want to know. Just trust us." He took another bite of his candy bar and shrugged. "And the fairies."

Dean had already put the charm around his neck when Gabriel said that, but he decided that asking any other questions was just a bad idea. He watched his tail vanish from view and smiled up at Ariel as she nodded approvingly. "Thanks."

She shrugged, inspecting her nails and not looking at him directly. "No problem. Another emergency averted, right?" She smiled, looking them both over before she nodded again and looked at Castiel, who was still hovering awkwardly by the sofa. "Keep an eye on them, would you? I have to go talk to a man about a dog. Again."

She vanished with a rustling of wings and Gabriel shrugged at the confused looks the brothers instantly shot him. "Girl's gotta do what a girl's gota do, right?"

* * *

"Hello Dean."

The Hunter jumped at the greeting, nearly cutting himself as he whittled away at the stake he was working on. "Ariel." He nodded to her, eyeing her suspiciously as she inched closer, hands in her pockets and a slightly guilty look on her face. "Something you need?"

"That charm around your neck. The spell should have worn off by now, so, I need to get it back to the original owner." She shrugged, leaning against the table he was sitting beside, staring resolutely down at the unintelligible pattern that ran across it. "I'm sorry for all the trouble you had to go through."

"It's not your fault." He closed his pocket knife and set the unfinished stake on the table, reaching up to loosen the ties on the necklace. As it came away in his hand, he watched cautiously for any sign of a hyperactive tail, but when none could be found he relaxed again, handing the charm over to the waiting Seraphim. "Besides, I should be saying sorry to you, right? You're the one who had to work your ass off for us, in the end."

She shrugged, staring at the charm almost fondly. "It's worth it. You guys have done a lot for me, after all." She paused, her thumb running over the little glass bottle. "Dean, you still have Annie's soul, right?" She asked softly, finally glancing up at him.

He paused before he replied, not looking at her. "Yeah, it's safe. Why, you want it back?"

"No, no, it's nothing like that." She shrugged, perching herself on the edge of the table. "I was hoping you'd keep it safe for me. If you don't mind." She offered him a soft, half-smile. "I trust her with you."

"I don't see why." He grumbled. "We tend to break more things than we fix. We use these hands of ours to make things _bleed_, Ariel, not make things better." He was pretty sure they'd already had this conversation, but for some reason he felt they needed to have it again anyway. "You know that."

"I also know you protect things till _you're_ the one bleeding." She pointed out. "So don't give me that lame excuse, it won't work." She tucked the charm into her pocket and smiled at him. "Call me again if you need me, Rocky."

He opened his mouth to reply, snapping his head up to glare at her, but she was already gone. "Great, cause I really need _that_ to be a thing…"

* * *

_So waiting for this chapter was sort of like waiting for the next season, and I am so sorry this took so long. XD_

_Also, it is a bit shorter than the others, but so is Dean, and we all still love him, so I hope you'll let it slide. ;D_

* * *

_The song "_Emergency_" belongs to: _Paramore


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